Canadian Invasion
by kyoto86
Summary: Who's the mystery person? What's going to develop between these teens? How will the Canadians change the way the gang thinks? Read and find out. rated M for language and later chapters
1. Disclaimer

Canadian Invasion  
  
Disclaimer: We don't own any of the characters except for Steph, Sarah, Patrick, Sebastien, Hilary and Demona. This is just one of our weird things to do when bored...so read and have fun learning what happens when a couple of Canadian teenagers invade Hogwarts in our version of Harry Potter! Oh and this is during sixth year...and we've changed quite a bit...so enjoy me and  
Kie's writings lol and don't forget to review!!!!  
  
Pairings:  
Steph x Draco  
  
Sarah x Harry  
  
Ron x Hermione  
  
Hilary x Sebastien  
  
Patrick x Hufflepuffgirl (?)  
  
Rated: R (for now but might contain a few lemon chapters in the near  
future...lemony goodness is so needed!!!!) 


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: _Alright, here's the first chapter so hope you like it, may be quite short...but the next couple of chapters will be longer since it's all in the making and we're writing this during our class time...homework is such a bore lol. Ne who, don't forget to read and review!!!_

Chapter 1  
  
"Sarah! Hurry your ass up, the train's going to leave in a minute!" a young teen shouted over her shoulder as she tossed her suitcase into the last car. 

"I'm coming! My portkey was late." answered a skinny blonde at the back of the crowded train station. She tossed her suitcase in as well and quickly got in just as they closed the doors.

"Tell me Sarah, how could your portkey be late if they're set for a specific time?" the young blonde sat in one of the seats and took out a book.

"Ok ok, so I missed the first one and had to have my dad create a new one. But it wasn't my fault, I couldn't find my wand, Mooney stole it." At the mention of his name, Mooney, the spider monkey she got as a gift, popped his head out of her jacket. At the sight of him, Ixi, Stephanie's tree monkey got excited. The two monkeys were purchased at the same time and had grown up together.

"Let them run around a little, just close the door." Said Stephanie as she opened Ixi's cage. The monkeys quickly took the opportunity to explore the car. It only took them around an hour to settle down in one of the overheard compartments.

"Hey Steph," asked Sarah as she took off her walkman, "wanna go explore, see if there are any cute wizards around?"

"Sounds like a good idea. I was getting tired of reading. Let's close the door carefully. Mooney and Ixi are devils if left alone too long." After quickly tidying up their car, they freshened up and went exploring. They met a few of their old friends but didn't stick around; they weren't going with them to Hogwarts so rekindling the friendships wouldn't do much. As they passed through a small town, they gazed out of the windows. "Well," said Steph, tying her straight blonde hair up into a ponytail, "we're halfway through the train and so far we're the only ones going to Hogwarts."

"Yeah, this blows, no hot guys." Sighed Sarah as they watched the landscape fade away.

"Speak for yourselves," said a male voice from right next to them. Startled, the two girls looked up to see two gorgeous guys looking as if they'd been wounded. "I find myself to be very hot." Said the taller of the two. He had dirty blond hair and emerald green eyes that twinkled with laughter.

"I take it back then," said Sarah as she quickly regained her composure, "There are no hot guys on the second half of the train."

"Now that's more like it." Said his friend, a short, yet well built guy with blond hair and hazel eyes. "I'm Patrick, and this is my friend Sebastien," Sebastien bowed as a hello, "We're from Montreal and we're going to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, how about you two?"

"Well," said Sarah slowly, "My name is Sarah, and this is Steph." She said, pointing to her friend, "We're both insane, we come from Chateauguay, and it would appear that we'll be joining you in school."

"Oh great," sighed Sebastien, "now how will we concentrate in class?"

"What do you mean?" asked Steph curiously.

"Well, with two gorgeous girls such as yourselves, we'll never be able to focus on anything else." He smiled mysteriously. After a few moments of weird silence, the two girls burst out laughing.

"That's crazy," giggled Sarah, "You can't consider us gorgeous, we're just average Canadian idiots."

"Well I was just trying to be nice," said Sebastien defensively, "I just thought girls liked compliments." He pouted. While still laughing, the girls looked at each other and mentally agreed.

"We see the start of some good friendship here," Said Steph smiling, "come on, time to talk and learn stuff."

"Come where?" asked Patrick, "Where are we going?"

"Back to our car, we left our pets there and we have to go back." said Sarah, moving in the direction of the back of the train.

"You guys are welcome to follow if you want, there's only the two of us and it's easier to get to know you that way." said Steph moving to follow Sarah.

"That sounds like a good idea, but we have to go get our stuff." said Sebastien quickly, almost eagerly.

"Ok meet us there then. We're in the last car." said Steph over her shoulder.

Once Patrick and Sebastien got settled, they began sharing stories about their lives and getting to know each other. Mooney and Ixi were safely back in their cages next to Patrick's grey cat, Charcoal, and Sebastien's barn owl, Biscuit. They were getting closer to Hogwarts so they quickly changed into their school uniforms. Until they were sorted, they all wore black and white; the girls in cut off shirts and black plaid mini skirts, and the guys in white shirts, black pants and black plaid ties. The Hogwarts crest visible on their shirts.

As they approached the Hogsmeade station, they talked about which house they wanted to be in. Finally, after a two day voyage across the Atlantic, they reached the school. They got off the train with a few other students and climbed into a horseless carriage that would take them to their new home away from home; Hogwarts.

Gasping as they stood in front of the school, both Sarah and Steph looked at each other with expressions of pure excitement. "This is going to be wicked!" exclaimed Sarah as she walked towards the large main doors. Nodding in agreement, Steph followed her with surprised Sebastien and Patrick in tow. Being ushered into what they were told was the Great Hall, they saw an old bearded man greeting other transfer students from around the world.

Nudging Sarah in the arm, Steph said, "I think that's our headmaster, Albus Dumbledore." Looking over at him, Sarah cocked her head to the side.

"Who's the dude next to him?" she questioned Steph in a whispered tone. Standing next to their headmaster was a strange looking man. He had shoulder length black hair and gave off the persona of someone not to cross paths with. Shrugging, Steph muttered something about her hoping he wouldn't be one of her teachers. Hearing her, Sarah stifled a laugh. Turning around to see where Sebastien and Patrick took off to when they arrived, she whipped back around when Dumbledore began to speak. Clapping his hands together to try and gain everyone's attention, he smiled to all of his new students.

Welcoming them all to Hogwarts, he went on a spiel about not entering the Forbidden Forest if they wanted to live, how the school year would go, to ignore the ghosts freely roaming around, especially Peeves, and said that everyone needed to be sorted into houses. The four houses were Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Wondering which one she would get, Sarah made her way past the students and to where the sorting hat was placed on a single chair. Being dragged behind her, Steph made Sarah stop when they almost walked into both of the guys. Cheeks turning a hue of red, Sarah apologized. "Sorry, just excited and want to get this sorting this over and done with. I want to check out more of the school." She grinned.

"You're always in a hurry, no wonder Mooney's so hyperactive, he has you for an owner." Ribbed Steph as Sarah stuck her tongue out at her. Chuckling, Sebastien was about to comment on both of the eighteen year olds when someone behind him cleared their voice.

_Like it? Hate it? Read and review please! Flames accepted_

_We'll post the next chappy soon_

_Ja Ne_

_Kie and Aries_


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: _Okie dokie, here's the second chapter for our Harry Potter ficcy. Please read and review! This is my first non anime one...since I'm used to writing gw or dbz fics. Ne who, enjoy lol, and more chappies to come! So far I've been posting daily...depends on how fast me and Kie can keep it!_  
  
Chapter 2  
  
"Shut up! Sorting is about to begin." Whispered the little redhead behind him who glared with her piercing green eyes. Shaking his head, Sebastien turned to the front and listened to one of the teachers call up the students.

When it came time for Sarah to go up, she looked a little nervous. Taking in a deep breath, she walked up to the sorting hat.

Steph took the time to look around the hall. The ceiling was enchanted to look like the sky above. Tonight the night was clear, the stars were clearly visible and the moon was almost full. There were four long tables and one head table. Since it was so early in the semester, there were only a couple of teachers there. Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, the greasy haired teacher she and Sarah didn't want, and an extremely large and hairy man. She looked back at Sarah just in time to see her put the hat on her head.

Questions ran through her mind; "What house are we going to be in? Where are the houses? Are we going to be separated? Do we have to remember a password? My memory sucks, I'm hungry..."

"GRYFFINDOR!" Steph jumped as the hat finally yelled out the name of Sarah's house.

"'Bout bloody time Sarah!" yelled Steph as she walked up to take her turn.

"Not my fault it had problems picking! I'm just a naturally confusing person." Retorted Sarah.

"Yeah sure." Steph snickered as she slipped her head into the hat.

"Well well well, another girl from Canada." Said a voice in her ear. The hat was talking to her in her mind. "Please don't tell me all Canadians are as difficult to sort as you two. You have a kind heart and a lot of courage, which would make you a perfect Gryffindor, but you also have a sneaky and conniving side with a thirst to prove yourself, the qualities needed for a Slytherin. You would be a very loyal Hufflepuff and a brilliant Ravenclaw." Steph rolled her eyes.

She thought to herself, '_Just pick one, pick the first one that comes to mind_.'

"No," said the hat, "You pick, Gryffindor or Slytherin?"

'_I don't care_.' She sighed inwardly. '_Slytherin I guess_.'

"Alright then, I'll put you in... SLYTHERIN!" Stephanie took off the hat and joined Sarah off the stage.

As she passed Sebastien, she whispered, "Good luck, he's having decision problems."

"And you yelled at me that I was slow!" scoffed Sarah as she tried to hide her grin.

"I guess he thought we were both just trying to bug him so he split us up." Giggled Steph.

"Doesn't matter, we can alw—"

"RAVENCLAW!" interrupted the hat. He had just placed Sebastien. Next Patrick walked up and put the hat on his head.

"As I was saying," said Sarah as she started again, "We can always fi—"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" interrupted the hat again. Patrick rejoined the group.

"God dammit! Can't I finish a god damn sentence?" growled Sarah in a hushed voice. "We can always find places to hang out. Not like we're stuck in our house common room all the time." She finished quickly.

"Yeah that's true." answered Steph. "Looks like Sebastien and Patrick had the same problem as us." The other students were sorted into their appropriate houses. Five girls were added to Gryffindor, three guys in Slytherin, four girls and guys into Ravenclaw, and three boys into Hufflepuff.

Dumbledore stood up as the hat was taken away. "Welcome once again," he said in a loud and resonant voice, "Your new houses will be like your family. You will gain house points for jobs well done, and lose points if you break the rules. The house cup is awarded to the house with the most points at the end of the year. The curfew to be in your common rooms and not running about freely throughout the rest of the school will be eleven o'clock. Any students caught out of their appropriate houses after curfew will be punished and must pay consequentially. But until the term actually begins, have fun, explore and get to know one another. You will dress in your house colors from now on. Winter uniforms will take place in mid-November, until then you will wear your summer uniforms."

He waved his wand and the uniforms they were wearing changed to their house colors. Sarah now wore a red and gold plaid mini skirt, Steph had a similar one but with Green and Silver instead, Patrick wore a yellow and black plaid tie, and Sebastien wore a blue and bronze tie. The Hogwarts crests on their shirts became their new house crests. A lion for Sarah, snake for Stephanie, a Badger for Patrick and a Raven for Sebastien.

"Sweet!" said Steph, "My favorite color."

"Now," said Dumbledore, "Each house has a head of house. However, since it is two weeks before start of term, the heads are not all present. Slytherin's head of house is Professor Snape, at my right. He will show our new Slytherin members to their common room. Professor Mcgonagall is head of Gryffindor, though sadly she is not here tonight, Mr. Filch our caretaker, will show you to your own common room." The small group of students looked behind them to see a filthy, skinny and cruel looking man.

"Great," mumbled Sarah, "I get the grinch as a guide."

"Well I get the 'happy' teacher." Drawled Steph sarcastically, "I think I read about him, he's probably the potions teacher."

"For Hufflepuff, Professor Sprout, however our grounds keeper Hagrid will lead you. And finally, concerning Ravenclaw, your head of house is Professor Flitwick, who is as well not present tonight. In his place, I will lead you to your common room. Go now to follow your guides, your bags are already in your dormitories. Settle down and take these two free weeks to shop for the remainder of your school supply in Diagon Alley; there is a portal in the room right next to the Great Hall. And don't be afraid to explore the castle. Have a good night everyone." He concluded. "Ravenclaw follow me."

"Slytherin this way," spoke Professor Snape in an oily voice, "No talking, no laughing, no bitching, understood?"

"Yes professor Snape." Said the Slytherin's quietly trailed after him.

'_Damn_,' Thought Stephanie, '_He's quite a jolly fellow. Hope he's not to tough in class_.' She followed him out of the Great Hall and waved to Sarah as she turned off into a dark hallway next to the staircase situated outside the main entrance leading to the Great Hall.

_Well there ya have it, more nothingness, don't worry, there will be a plot, we just have to make sure everything flows, can't just jump into it now can we ;)_

_Love it? Hate it? You know the drill, review!_

_Ja Ne_

_Kie and Aries_


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: _Yay chapter three is up now! Hmm... seems that things are starting to get interesting... and there's so much more to write up omg it's insane...well read and please review, me and Kie really wish to see what you all think of our story. It makes it all that much more pleasurable to write knowing that other people like that you're writing. Ja ne, Aries_  
  
Chapter 3

They went through a maze of stone hallways until they came to a large room with a doorway as a corner. "My potions classroom is the first door on your left, for future reference." Snapped Professor Snape, suddenly making the new Slytherin boy jump and Steph look at the doorway he was referring to. "I expect you all to be punctual in my class. I do not like nor accept tardiness."

"Understood, sir." said Steph in response. Snape looked at her suddenly. The boy standing next to her looked scared because they weren't supposed to talk. But Steph stared Snape straight in the eye without flinching.

"What's your name child?" he barked out, even though his curiosity was piqued.

"Stephanie Malefice, sir." She bluntly replied.

"French?" he stared, "Translate it."

"Well I'm Canadian sir, so French is common. Roughly translated, it means 'curse'."

"Well stated," declared Snape, "I think you're going to fit in nicely in Slytherin Mala...Male...Mali..."

"Just call me Curse. if you'd like sir."

"Very well." He replied. "Now then, the Slytherin common room is through the first door on your right. You will be told the password and you must remember it for the whole year. Keep the common room spotless, I do a weekly inspection without warning." They walked into yet another room with no doors. Snape walked up to the wall with two snakes in the corners and said the password. "Snake Venom."

The wall in front of them melted away and revealed a stone common room. Decorated in plush seats and couches, everything was green and silver. A fire gave off enough heat to keep away the chilly and damp air. "I will most likely see you all in my class at the beginning of the term. Good night." He turned and left suddenly. Steph walked up to the girls' dorm and organized herself. All the while thinking of where Sarah was and what her common room looked like.

Whistling as she turned in a full circle as she stood in the center of the common room, Sarah thought that she was going to like being in Gryffindor. Everything in the entire tower was lavished in gold and burgundy colors. Being shown the girls dormitory on the Westside of the Gryffindor house, Sarah wondered if her belongings would be up there waiting for her. Ascending the large stone staircase, she stopped in front of an oak door.

Opening it, Sarah found five matching four poster beds lined with burgundy silk sheets and gold embroidered pillows. Jaw dropping to the floor, she made her way towards where she had spotted her luggage. Grinning impishly, she jumped face first onto the bed she had dubbed hers and squealed in delight. Hearing someone laughing at her, Sarah flipped onto her back and sat up into a sitting position.

Cheeks turning red, she smiled abashedly as another Gryffindor walked towards her. "Sorry about the interruption," she began in a thick British accent. "But I'm here to remind you of a few things before I reside to my quarters for the night."

"Oh, alright." grinned Sarah as she crossed her legs into an Indian sit.

"You must remember the password "Quidditch" at all times to enter into the Gryffindor house. Speak it to the Fat Lady in the portrait like Filch did before we entered into the common room." Nodding her head, Sarah listened to what else she had to say before saying goodnight and preparing for bed. Wondering how Steph was holding up, she decided to get up early in the morning to try and meet up with her before breakfast in the Great Hall. Not being able to suppress her excitement, Sarah laughed as she stuck a pillow over her head and tried to get 'some' sleep that night.

Meanwhile on the right side of the school in the dungeons, Sebastien was being led by Dumbledore to the Ravenclaw common room. They came to a dead end and Dumbledore just stood there. He gave off a powerful aura, and being afraid to speak, Sebastien looked at the other guy next to him with a questioning look.

Suddenly Dumbledore turned to face them all and said, "This tapestry is the doorway into your common room." He stepped aside so that they could see a woven tapestry of a troll with a large club over his head. "You will use the password "Hippogrith", your luggage is already in your dorm rooms, choose a bed and get some rest. You can start exploring after breakfast tomorrow. Good night." Then he vanished down the hall.

"Yeah," Answered Sebastien as he turned towards the tapestry, "Hippogrith!" The tapestry vanished and behind it was a passage that led to an open room decorated in bronze and royal blue. The couches were all lined up around the large fireplace. A blazing fire fought off the cold of the dungeons. They all walked off to their dorms, Sebastien walked with another guy to his own. They made their way up a spiral staircase that led to the boys' dormitory, sure enough, just as Dumbledore had said, their bags were there. They each chose a bed and changed into their pajamas. It was quite an exhausting day and they soon fell asleep.

The Hufflepuff students were led by Hagrid into one of the towers. Poor Patrick was stuck listening to Hagrid's long speech about Hogwarts. Hagrid was nice and all, but it was late and Patrick was too tired to listen. At the top of the stairs there was a larger than life statue of a gnome. "Alrigh' then," said Hagrid, "What was the ruddy password again?" He started looking into all of his pockets. "I know I had it in one of me pockets...ah hah! Foun' it!" He took out a crumpled paper. "Yer password is "Veriteserum", now then, I have ter run, Fang dun't like being alone fer very long." He turned to leave, squishing two students against the wall. "Oh yeah, yer bags are already upstairs. No explorin' 'til tomorrow ya hear? g'night." Then he disappeared down the stairs.

"Wow," said the young Hufflepuff girl next to Patrick, "He really is something isn't he?"

"Yup." Answered Patrick, "He's special...Veriteserum." He said finally to open the way to the common room. The statue sunk down and revealed a hole behind it.

"Cool." Said the girl looking at the passage in awe. The two teens walked into their common room with the others trailing slowly behind. There was a large fireplace with a large picture of a good looking boy over it. A plaque underneath said 'In memory of Cedric Diggory, a winner in all our hearts.' "Oh I've heard stories about him," said the girl who was named Alicia, "He was the Hogwarts champion for the goblet of fire thing, some how Harry Potter was one as well. They were neck in neck at the end and the trophy was a portkey, when they came back, Cedric was dead."

"Weird," said Patrick, "did they ever figure out what killed him?"

"Well Harry Potter claimed Voldemorte was back and he had Wormtail perform Avada Kadavra on him. But no one believed him. They figured he was making things up because he wanted the glory. They said he had wanted the award and that's it. But I don't believe that. He was put into that competition against his will, and I heard he gave his prize money to Fred and George Weasley. They're now second in line behind Zonko's joke shop. They're rich and famous thanks to Harry. I think he's amazing!" she finished with a dreamy look.

"Right," said Patrick backing away slowly. "I see you're a fan. Well I'm pooped, going to bed. Night." He ran through the yellow and black common room up to his dorm room before she went into another Harry Potter frenzy. He got to his room to see his bed ready and his suitcase in the corner. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

_Hehehe, three chapters up, how many more to go? Who knows, we just write it as we think it._

_Anywho... review please, we love reading them_

_Ja Ne_

_Kie and Aries_


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: _4 chapters, yay! Ahem, just noticed we've neglected our disclaimer, it is our first chapter, but we should still have it every chappy, just to remind you folks, so here goes..._

Disclaimer:_ Neither Aries, nor I, own any of the characters you all know from the Harry Potter book series, although we wish we did. Come to think of it, we don't own much... shucks...O.o_

Chapter 4  
  
The next morning dawn clear and warm, the sun was already high in the sky when the teens woke up. Stephanie took a quick shower to help her wake up and got dressed in her school uniform. She ran into Sarah on the way to the Great Hall. In place of the four long tables there was only one slightly smaller table with enough room for everyone. Another table at the far end was piled with food of all kinds. They hungrily filled their plates and sat down at the table.

"Oh my god! My dorm is so cool!" exclaimed Sarah with a mouth full of toast. Shaking her head and muttering something about her table manners, Steph took a swig of her pumpkin juice. Swallowing her mouthful, Sarah stuck out her tongue.

"Hurry up and eat. I want to go check out the rest of the school." Demanded Steph as she picked up a blueberry muffin and started picking the top off.

Rolling her eyes, Sarah waved her hands about. "Alright, alright." She replied.

After they had all eaten, Steph, Sarah, Sebastien and Patrick made their way out of the Great Hall and wondered where they were going to go first. "You guys want to go down to the dungeons?" asked Sebastien, "It's probably cooler."

"I want to go up to the towers first," replied Steph, "I've been in a dungeon all night, I want to see the view of the grounds, especially while the sun is still rising."

"Yeah," answered Sarah, "I like that idea!"

"Alright then," exclaimed Sebastien, "To the towers we go!"

"Cool." Cried Patrick as he turned towards the staircase, "What are we waiting for? We have a view to see and secret passages to find!" He ran up the stairs and called back at them, "Hurry your asses up if you want to see the sun while it's still rising! You may want to get a move on since it takes a while to get to the top of the towers." He disappeared around the corner and he headed towards the eastern tower.

"He's right you know," said Steph hurrying after Patrick, "The sun won't rise all day long."

"We might as well get going." Sighed Sebastien heading towards the stairs with Sarah following close behind.

"I'll race you!" Yelled Sarah suddenly, running past him and getting a really good head start.

"Hey!" he cried out, "No fair!" running after her, he covered quite a bit of ground with his long legs. "You'll never win, I'm faster than you!"

"Yeah well I know a secret passage you don't!" she taunted.

"Oh yeah?" he challenged as he reached the top.

"Yeah!" she laughed as she disappeared around the corner.

He chased her around the corner and found a dead end. '_Great_,' he thought to himself, '_I don't have time to look, I have to win fair and square now_.' He ran off towards the grand staircase and ran like there was no tomorrow. He reached the east wing tower just as Sarah emerged from behind an old statue of a witch.

"Woah!" she cried, "Where'd you come from?"

"The...st...stairs..." he choked out, panting heavily.

"You ran up the stairs?" she said, eyes as wide as the full moon. "All seven flights?"

"Y...yeah..." he gasped.

"Damn boy, you win even if it was a tie." She declared. "You deserve to win."

"Thanks." He slowly regained his breath. "Let's go up and meet Steph and Patrick. They shouldn't be too far ahead." He walked up the last flight of stairs, when they reached the top; Steph and Patrick were leaning on the windowsill looking out over the vast grounds of Hogwarts castle. The sun slowly peeked out over the top of the trees.

"Hey guys," said Steph, "You're just in time for the show." The four teens gazed out of the window and watched until the last ray of the sun was over the tree line. The sun lit up the grounds and illuminated the Quidditch field in the background. However, the forbidden forest remained dark and gloomy, despite the warm rays of the sun shining down on it. "I can't wait until the Quidditch try-outs. I want to show them my skills as a seeker," said Steph enthusiastically, "I heard that the Slytherin's current seeker is so full of himself that he never even caught the snitch once."

"Hehe, well I want to try for beater or keeper. More or less a beater though," said Sarah laughing. "Alright, let's make our way downstairs. I want to find some more secret passages." Grinned Sarah as she turned around and started walking off. Following behind her, everyone started chitchatting as they took a tour of the school.

They passed around stupid stories; Patrick was talking about Americans, "...And he was asking if I live in an igloo and saying Quebec was a country, not a province..."

Rolling her eyes, Steph cut him off, "Should have told him to shut it then and to do some bloody research."

Laughing, Sarah teased, "I'm Canadian eh? How boot you?" walking backwards as she faced them, she didn't hear the sound of a door sliding open. Regarding their funny faces, she was going to ask Steph what was the matter when she tripped over something and fell on her rear. "Oww..." she mumbled as she stayed seated. Flopping onto her back, she looked up at the ceiling and noticed it wasn't the usual stone and marble. Getting back onto her feet with Patrick's help, she gasped at the hidden room facing her. "Guess I found a secret room." She grinned as she rubbed her sore butt.

"Yeah." Replied Sebastien as he entered the room. "Guess you did." Coming up behind him, Steph peered over his shoulder. Looking at all the dragon related objects scattered about, she widened her eyes in surprise. She sauntered over towards one statue in particular that quickly caught her attention.

"Wow." She sighed, "I wish I had one similar to this but with a green stone instead." She nearly dropped the statue she was holding as an identical one popped out of nowhere. Walking over to where she was, Sarah let out a low whistle.

"Wish I could do that with a blue stone..." the dragon statue with a blue stone appeared into her hands. "Hey!" she exclaimed, "I think I figured it out!"

"Huh?" asked Patrick, "What do you mean? Figured what out?"

"This room," she explained, "You just wish for something and it'll appear."

"Yeah right." said Patrick, doubt evident in his tone.

"Want proof?" she asked.

"Yeah," he challenged, "Prove it!"

"I wish that a big bucket of water would land on Patrick's head." She snickered knowingly as a bucket soon appeared over his head, making him look up. Steph couldn't control her laughter as the bucket tipped over and soaked his uniform.

Holding onto her sides as thought they were going to split, Sarah couldn't stop laughing at him. Chuckling, Sebastien felt bad for his friend Patrick. Muttering a drying spell, he pointed his wand at Patrick.

"I suggest that in the near future, you don't provoke her." He teased with a cheshire grin. Placing the dragon statue on a table by her side, Steph walked back over towards the entrance where some carvings caught her interest. "Looks like Latin." She mumbled as she tried to decipher it.

Walking up behind her, Sarah shrugged. "Beats me, never took Latin." Grinning, she then turned back around to explore the rest of the room. Shaking her head, Steph concentrated on the text printed in between the intricate dragon carvings as she idly tapped her chin with her index finger.

* * *

_Hey! Please review! Me and Kie need to know who's reading this story. What happens when two teens get bored during their breaks in college lol. The things our imaginations can create are rather amusing no? Oh and more to come...it's just being a pain right now since we have quite a few longer chapters to post up, but have to copy them from a notebook onto pc then upload them onto a time consumer. Well that's my babbling for now. And thanks to those who reviewed...greatly appreciated . -Aries  
  
P.S. Things will be getting more interesting. Right now this is pretty much the introduction, since nothing big is happening right now. But hint for the near future since Kie is driving me crazy with all of the cliff hangers she's leaving for end of chappies, pay attention to the Dragon room; it serves its purpose quite a few times. _

_Keep reviewing!_

_Ja Ne_

_Kie and Aries_


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: _Hey guys! Just to warn you, we will start adding some type of plot soon, and I will be having fun with evil cliffhangers. I hope you guys like this story, cuz we love writing it._

Diclaimer:_ We do not own... ok, well we own a few characters, just Sarah, Steph, Sebastien, Patrick, so far. We'll be adding characters as they fit into the story. Harry Potter and the Hogwarts gang belong to the lovely and talented J.K. Rowling._

Chapter 5

"Cella Draconus." She muttered aloud. "That looks like the title or maybe the name of this room." She wracked her brain trying to remember what she had learned in her old latin class. "Room...that's it! Cella means room and Draconus means dragon or some thing very similar." Everyone had snuck up behind her while she was thinking, she turned around suddenly to tell them. "Hey gu...ack! Geez, don't scare me like that."

Grinning sheepishly, Sarah shrugged. "Sorry...I think." She mumbled as she scratched the back of her head. Glancing at her watch, Steph looked up at Sarah.

"Come on, I wanna check out the grounds before lunch time." Grabbing hold of Sarah's wrist, she started dragging her out of the room. Following suite, Sebastien and Patrick tried not to laugh as Sarah attempted to push Steph away, but she tripped over a raised stone and fell on her butt.

"Ouchy!" She groaned. Standing back up and rubbing her sore bottom, she complained about getting bruised by the end of the day.

"Probably will, knowing you." Stephanie teased. Shaking her fist at her, Sarah paid close attention to the floor.

"Why d'ya wanna go outside any way?" asked Sarah, keeping her eyes fixed to the floor, "It's just a bunch of grass and trees."

"Maybe, but then there's the big squid or octopus thingy in the lake, the Quidditch pitch, hidden paths, the forest's edge..."

"Quidditch?" piped up Sarah, "Let's go get out brooms first then, I wanna practice!"

"Okay okay!" She headed towards the staircases, "Meet me in the Great Hall when you have your brooms."

The four split up, Sarah and Patrick headed for the towers and Stephanie and Sebastien went to the dungeons about twenty minutes later, they were all in the Great Hall holding onto their brooms. "Wow!" exclaimed Patrick, "You two have the Firebolt5000! Are you guys rich or something?"

"Well," said Sarah, "We're not rich, but we each got an inheritance from our grand parents."

"Yeah, we had enough money to buy these and to live comfortably for the rest of our lives," Explained Stephanie, "not rich, just average in our living styles."

"That's cool," said Sebastien drooling over the brooms, "I wish I had an inheritance but I don't."

"Alright guys," sighed Patrick, "enough chit chat, if we want to play before lunch we'd better go now."

"Yeah!" cried Sarah and Stephanie simultaneously. The two stalked off ahead of the guys, holding their brooms over their heads.

"Those two scare me." Sebastien muttered sullenly.

"They're special, that's for sure," replied Patrick, "Come on, let's go." He put his trusty old Nimbus2000 over his shoulder. Sebastien did the same with his own Nimbus2000. They ran after the girls and caught up with them just as they entered the pitch. Stephanie and Sarah quickly mounted their brooms and shot off into the air. Sebastien and Patrick kicked off the ground and flew after them. Steph started to do a few air tricks; dives and spins mostly, when she started to practice the Wronski Feint, Patrick called a time-out.

"You guys want to practice with actual balls?" he asked, floating in mid- air.

"Do you have any?" asked Stephanie jokingly, winking at Sarah.

"Well I only have two, but they're good enough to play with." He replied. Stephanie and Sarah started laughing their asses off. They nearly fell off of their brooms as their ribs cracked. Sebastien, who had just understood the joke, snickered silently behind Patrick's back.

"What?" questioned Patrick, "What's so funny?"

Catching her breath, Sarah answered, "So you want us to play with your balls eh?" she giggled.

"Wha..." Patrick widened his eyes suddenly, "Hey! You know what I meant!"

"Oh, we know what you meant," laughed Stephanie, "But we also know what you said."

"Yeah yeah, okay." He sighed. "Everyone laugh at poor innocent Patrick. But any way, it's time for lunch, we should head back."

"How do you know it's time for lunch?" asked Stephanie, "You don't even have a watch."

"I can hear Sebastien's stomach from here." He replied as he floated to the ground. Everyone laughed and followed him. They all marched into the Great Hall in time for the procession of teachers and students for lunch. They went in and ate.

Once fully satiated, the small band of students continued to explore the school. They spent most of the week in the dragon room. They had refurnished it to their liking and now they used it as a common room where they could all spend time together.

At the end of the week, a train filled with American transfer students arrived. They attended the second sorting hat ceremony and enjoyed the feast that always followed. Sleep came easily on a full stomach, and dreams of Quidditch filled most of their heads. Only one week left before school started.

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_Hey! Don't forget to read and review, and thanx to our Canadian supporter from Ontario, yeah we're from Quebec lol_  
  
**Annskers**_– Your brother's shirt sounds amusing lol...I'd wear it and crack jokes bout it if I had one  
  
Well we'll keep up with the posting...and as a GIANT warning right now...watch out for Kie's little cliff hangers. She's evil! We're writing this as a pair and yet I can't even find out some of the things that she has in her mind for the story...uncool. Well that's my sulking for tonight... and I'm gonna start a song of the chapter type thing heehee...here's the one for this chapter:  
  
MP3 of the day: In the shadows – The Rasmus  
  
P.S. Listen to em if ya want....really really awesome band...In the Shadows is a good song..but their other ones are just as amazing! I love em!!  
  
Thankies for reading and please don't forget to review. I know it's a hassle to do and all, but me and Kie would really appreciate it seeing how we'd like to know who is reading this and how many there are!  
  
Ja Ne_

_Kie and Aries_


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: _it's us again, this is a little longer then the previous chapters, this is where the fun beings as we bring in the real Hogwarts gang._

Disclaimer:_ Don't own, so don't sue, we got no money anyways _

Chapter 6

The week that followed was rather uneventful, even with the arrival of new transfer students. The American students didn't seem to want to have anything to do with the Canadian students, something about old grudges. So the gang did the same they had done the week before, they sat around the dragon room doing things that interested them, such as exploding snap.

Finally, the rest of the school showed up. Due to the new transfer students, the school was told to go to their common rooms before the sorting ceremony and to meet the new students. A tall, well built teen walked towards the dungeons complaining about transfer students.

"Who do they think they are?" he said to the two ugly brutes that followed him, "Damn Americans, taking over everything in their path." He marched into the room and stopped in front of the door to the common room for the Slytherins, his platinum blonde hair shifted with the sudden stop. "Snake Venom!" he said, as the wall melted away.

He raised his voice so that the entire common room could hear him, "Those damn foreigners can go back to where they belong!" When Steph heard that, she looked up from the book she was reading.

'_Who the hell does he think he is?_' she thought, looking at the arrogant, although gorgeous, blonde. She walked up to him and placed her hands on her slim hips.

"Who are you?" he snarled, giving her a once-over. '_Meh_,' he thought, '_not bad I guess, why haven't I seen her before?_'

"The name's Stephanie," she said maliciously, "one of those damn foreigners you were complaining about."

"Oh, then you heard what I said," he smirked, "you can leave now wench, you're blocking my path."

"Well now, that's not very polite," she smirked back, "you didn't even introduce yourself or your... um... muscles?" she signaled Crabbe and Goyle, his 'henchmen'.

"Well, I suppose I could bless you with my name... It's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." He pointed behind him, "this is Crabbe and Goyle."

Steph snorted unlady-like, "with a name like that, it's more of a curse."

Draco's eyes widened at the comment, "You dare speak to me like that?!" he asked.

"You're damn right I dare!" she snapped, "who the hell do you take yourself for?"

"My father is Lucius Malfoy –"

"Did I ask who your father was?" she interrupted, "Nooo... I asked who you took yourself for."

"I'm the son of Lucius –"

"Are you your father?! No! So stop using him as a pedestal to make yourself feel better! Are you so insecure that you have to bring in your dad's name just to feel more important?"

"Excuse m –"

"Shut up when I'm talking to you, you arrogant little bastard. With all your money, you'd think you'd be able to afford some manners." Draco's jaw dropped open. "You're no better then anyone else in this school and your money means nothing. You want to claim that you're better then everyone else? Then you have to earn it. And your stupid little bodyguards don't scare me, IMOBILLIARUS!"

she pointed her wand at Crabbe and Goyle, who had started to advance on her. Draco pulled out his own want but Stephanie beat him to it, "EXPELLIARMUS!" Draco's wand flew into her hands. "No more funny business asshole, you wanna be respected as the best, you can't use your name or money. As a Slytherin you shouldn't even need money or a name to do so. You aren't worthy of the title of Slytherin, I think you should be the one to leave. I bid you good day." She finished firmly.

She unfroze Crabbe and Goyle and tossed Draco's wand onto the floor as a final insult. She turned around and went back to her book muttering under her breath about spoiled brats with no life.

"Woah," exclaimed a Slytherin boy near Draco, "she sure is something. She just so kicked your ass Malfoy."

"Shut up Zabini," snarled Draco, "she did not 'kick my ass', that little tiff did nothing."

"Yeah, Bullshit Malfoy, she kicked you off your high horse; if not in your eyes, then in everyone else's."

"Whatever Zabini, you don't know what you're talking about."

"Believe what you want, but she caught my attention and I'm going to go talk to her before someone else gets to her." The young Blaise walked over to her and introduced himself. She looked up form her book and smiled at him, they soon go into a conversation.

Draco watched with a sneer on his face. '_That damn Zabini is such a flirt, always looking for a fresh piece of ass._' He thought to himself. He would never admit to it out loud, but he admired her. She was a gorgeous pureblood with a fiery temper. She was brave and skilled and had rendered him completely speechless, something almost nobody could do. He always had some kind of witty comment to throw back; however, none had come to mind this time. He would prove her wrong; he would show her that he was the best. His marks in potions were above the others and all his other grades were decent. He was also a seeker on the house quidditch team. He would have her respect soon. Suddenly the fire flickered and professor Snape's head popped into the flames.

"Slytherin students," said the head, "you may now proceed to the great hall, the sorting ceremony will soon commence." Just as suddenly as the head had appeared, it vanished with a 'pop'. The Slytherin students filed out of the common room and made their way to the great hall. Draco stayed behind Steph and Blaise, who were still talking.

Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor common room, Sarah had just finished organizing her stuff so that she wouldn't be in anyone's way. She went down to the common room where all the Gryffindor students were gathered.

Everyone was talking like old friends and Sarah felt somewhat left out. She gave the room a quick look and noticed a guy standing off to one side. Sarah decided to shove aside her shyness and go and introduce herself. When she got closer she saw that he had amazing, bright emerald eyes. His body was well shaped with a slight build from what she could tell through the school robes, he was probably on the quidditch team. He had brown, shaggy hair that seemed to have a mind of its own. Finally she was in front of him; he looked at her with a questioning stare.

"Um... hi," she said, swallowing over a lump in her throat. He gave her a kind smile in return, giving her more courage then she originally had.

"Hi," he replied, "you must be one of the new transfer students, I'm Harry, Harry Potter."

"Really? Shit! I'm sorry. Wow, now I feel stupid, you probably get people coming to talk to you like this all the time. My name's Sarah LaChance."

"You're not stupid, don't worry. Actually it's a nice change. You were right though, people come talk to me a lot, but they usually only come to talk because they know who I am and are curious. I don't think that's why you came to talk to me, I admire that. "

"Thanks," she blushed. She opened her mouth to say something else when a short girl with a very bushy head of dirty blonde hair walked up. She was followed by a tall boy with flaming red hair and a face covered in freckles. The girl grabbed Harry by the arm and started to drag him away.

"Harry! Ron and I have been looking all over for you." Harry glanced over his shoulder and gave Sarah an apologetic smile.

"Yeah Harry, we wanna go see Hagrid before the sorting, come on." Said the tall boy the girl had referred to as Ron.

Dejected, Sarah looked around for someone else to talk to. She saw a boy with dreadlocks holding a box in a corner. She walked up to him and introduced herself. His name was Lee Jordan and the box contained a large spider. Spiders weren't her favorite creatures, so she quickly excused herself and sat on one of the plush chairs in front of the fireplace. She stared into the fire thinking about being back with Steph, someone who would actually acknowledge her properly.

Suddenly there was a head in the fireplace; a stern looking witch. Sarah jumped out of the chair. Stunned, she listened as the witch told them to proceed towards the great hall for the ceremony.

Sarah walked alone, slightly slower than everyone else in her house. By the time she reached the great hall, the Gryffindors were already seated and the Slytherins were now coming out of the dungeons. She looked for Steph and saw her deep in conversation with a really cute boy.

'_When did that happen?_' she asked herself, she also noticed a gorgeous guy with platinum blonde hair right behind them. He was glaring daggers at them. '_Uh oh..._' she giggled, '_looks like Steph pissed someone off again. Wonder what happened?_' Sarah went into the dining hall to join her house. She found a seat near the end of the table and sat down. She glanced up and down the table but didn't see Harry.

"Mind if I sit here?" asked a voice next to her. It was Harry and his two friends. Sarah blushed a deep crimson.

"Su...Sure" she stuttered. He was so cute and so sweet! Harry sat next to her and Ron and the girl sat on the other side of the table.

"These are my friends, Ron Weasly and Hermione Granger." He explained.

"Nice to meet you," said Sarah politely. She wasn't all that happy that they were there, they were somewhat rude before, and first impressions were always important.

"I wanted to apologize for before," said Harry, "They were a little overanxious to see Hagrid and didn't realize I was talking to someone."

Nodding her head, Sarah was about to reply with a sarcastic remark when everyone hushed down and everything had gone dead silent. As the great hall doors opened, a bunch of first year students were escorted into the center of the hall. Watching them intently, Sarah kept taking a few glances at the Slytherin table every now and then, hoping to catch Steph's attention.

Having no luck, she sighed impatiently as the sorting began. Looking back over to Harry, she noticed that he was in deep conversation with both Ron and Hermione. Rolling her eyes, she sighed inwardly as the sorting finished and the feast began. Quickly losing her appetite, Sarah played with her food more then she actually ate it.

"Problem?" asked Harry with a frown. Looking up at him, Sarah shook her head.

"Nope" she replied, standing up she shuffled out of the great hall and headed towards the Gryffindor tower. Deciding to speak with Steph in the morning, she got ready for bed and flopped face first onto her silk covers. Letting out a frustrated yell that was muffled by her pillow, she crawled under her sheets and flipped onto her back.

The next morning, Sarah woke up earlier then expected. Taking a quick shower and throwing her books into her small satchel, she headed towards the great hall. Finding Harry talking to both of his friends again, she waved to him as he looked up and smiled at her.

"Hey" she greeted as she sat down next to him. Ignoring the funny yet questioning looks she was receiving from both Hermione and Ron, she took a sip of her pumpkin juice.

"Morning," he replied, "ready for your first class?"

"Meh, all depends on who the potions teacher is" she grinned.

"Have fun with Snape then, seems we'll both be in the same class this morning," turning back to Ron and Hermione, Sarah watched him excuse himself and leave the table. "See ya in class." He whispered to her. Nodding her head, Sarah grabbed a piece of toast and started munching on it.

Getting up and grabbing her satchel, she was about to walk out of the great hall when she noticed Steph jogging in her direction. Waving to her, Sarah smiled.

"Hey Sarah," she greeted, "sorry I couldn't talk to you last night. I'll tell you all about these two guys I met in potions class, ok? Going to go eat first, see ya in a bit!" Waving goodbye, she rushed into the great hall.

"Um ok..." mumbled Sarah. Exiting the great hall, she headed into the dungeons to try and find her potions class.

Entering a room filled with old wooden tables and rickety chairs, Sarah took a seat in the back of the class. Pulling out her potions ingredients and humming a song she had stuck in her head. She failed to notice Steph sneaking up behind her. She almost dropped a vial of a strange red liquid as she got poked in the side. Sarah glared at Steph who was busy laughing at her.

"Mind not scaring the bejesus out of me next time? She growled. Wiping a tear from her eye, Steph sat down next to her with a bemused expression.

"Yeah, sure, whatever" giggled Steph, "anyways, about yesterday," she pulled out her own ingredients. "This guy named Draco Malfoy who is totally an ass, got all huffy with me for commenting on his retarded insult on us transfer students. That guy has a huge ego problem..." she trailed off.

Shaking her head, Sarah told her to continue. "Well we had a huge fight and after some guy named Blaise Zabini came to congratulate me. We became friends, and he's so hot!" grinning, Steph finished her explanation about eating dinner with Blaise and not being able to meet up with her afterwards.

Accepting her apology, Sarah started to tell her about how she met Harry when other students began filing into the classroom.

"I'll finish telling you later," she whispered to Steph as none other then professor Snape entered the classroom. Glaring at everyone to shut up, he explained the lesson.

"Today's potion will be a special one. It binds both partners mentally and emotionally. This is the less potent version, and be sure to follow the instructions. If your potion isn't a dark shade of red, you will receive a failing mark." He snapped as he waved his wand, the instructions and ingredients appeared on the blackboard. "Partners will be assigned randomly. When I call your name off the roster, you will tell me that you are present and come pick a name out of this cauldron."

Steph ended up with the guy she had complained about, Draco Malfoy. As it turned out, he was also the guy Sarah had noticed glaring at Steph and Blaise the night before. Sarah was lost in thought and didn't hear when her name was called. Hearing someone clearing their throat, she raised her head for her eyes to come into contact with emerald green ones.

"You're stuck with me as a partner I'm afraid," grinned Harry as he took the seat to her right.

Shaking her head, Sarah replied, "Why me? What did I do to deserve this?" she winked with a smile tugging at her mouth. Chuckling, Harry took out a piece of parchment and wrote down their instructions.

"Ok, so slowly stir it while I chop up these batwings." instructed Sarah. Luckily, their potion was going well, unlike the students in front of her. Their potion was acid green and was spitting out sparks like it was the fourth of July.

It appeared that Neville Longbottom, who Harry had told Sarah, was somewhat of a klutz in potions class, had overly stirred his potion and added too many dragon scales. Shaking her head at the thought, she went back to methodically dicing the chunks of batwings for their mixture. TWACK

"Oww!" yelled a startled Sarah as she jumped out of her seat. "What the hell..."

Turning as she heard a familiar laugh to her left, Sarah glared at Steph. Picking out the chunk of pixie wing from her hair, she threw it back at Steph, smirking as it caught her off guard and hit her in the temple. Sarah inwardly thanked Snape for having stepped out of class. Ignoring Steph's curses, Sarah flopped back down into her chair and continued with her potion with Harry, who was trying to hide his amusement.

"Ten points from Gryffindor," snarled Snape as he stormed back into the classroom. Robes billowing around him, he marched up to Sarah's table and glared at her. "Next time Ms. Lachance, refrain yourself from such petty acts in the near future. As for the rest of you, I won't tolerate this insubordination. Next student who even dares whisper a word will receive a weeks worth of detention."

Steph stood up to defend Sarah, "Professor, if you take off ten points from Sarah, then take them off me too. I started it."

"That's very noble of you," he snarled, "but I didn't see you do anything."

"Well I'm admitting to it!" she glared, "either take them off Slytherin or give them back to Gryffindor!"

"Miss C, you realize that you'll be helping out your enemies to the house cup." He replied.

"If we're going to win the house cup through unfair favoritism, then they deserve to win."

"I beg your pardon!" he said, becoming angry, "unfair favoritism?"

"Yes!" she yelled back, "if you want to prove otherwise, you'll remove points from your own house when it's necessary. Your house is no more and no less important than any other house. If you fail to see that, then I will have my father remove you from your position as head of Slytherin house."

"And what, may I ask, could your father do?"

"He's the new minister for magic, he replaced Fudge when Fudge wouldn't do anything about Lord Voldemort's return," the majority of the class flinched at the name, "when he got the job he moved here, that's why I transferred, to see if I liked it enough to move here."

"I see," mused Snape, considering his new position, "well then, I guess I can forgive this one infraction. 10 points back to Gryffindor, please continue your potions." Steph sat back down while the Slytherins glared at her and the Gryffindors stared dumbstruck.

"What the hell did you do that for?" hissed Draco, "you gave Gryffindor points; they're our enemies!"

"Wrong Malfoy, they're your enemies, they're my friends." growled Steph, "if you have a problem with that, let me know and I'll make sure to make you forget all about it." She threatened. He quickly shut his mouth; he didn't want to make a scene in Snape's classroom, especially now that he was in such a foul mood.

'_This girl is dangerous_' he thought, '_better keep her on my good side, she may be useful._'

_

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_

_Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, we're going to add some plot soon. Keep up with the reviews, we love them!_  
  
**Amanda -** _Thanks for the tip Mana, we'll be sure to keep it in mind.  
  
We don't really have a schedule for updating, we just try and get it done soon, we spend too much time writing and forget about typing it up, silly us.  
  
I hope you guys enjoy my cliffies as much as Aries does, (she tried to kill me when I wouldn't tell her the outcome)  
  
Well, my little blurp is done now, ENJOY!!_

_Ja Ne_

_Kie and Aries_


	8. Chapter 7

A/N: _Aries and I would just like to thank everyone who reviewed, and to tell you to keep them coming, we love to read them.  
  
This is our longest chapter to date, and we're really sorry for the long delay, but we had to go through finals and adjust to summer. Thanks for waiting_.

Disclaimer: _Don't own so don't sue _

Chapter 7

When potions class was done, Professor Snape asked each student to hand in a vial of their potion.

"Now, before you leave, I would like to make an example out of Mr. Longbottom, it would be unwise to use pixie 'dust' instead of pixie 'wings'. For this insolence, you will all have to take a portion of your potion and drink it. Depending on the outcome of how well you did, you will be graded." He snapped.

Turning to look at Harry, Sarah shrugged and grabbed a ladle full of potion. Holding it to her lips, she drank the vile liquid. It tasted exactly like cherry cough syrup.

"Gross!" she coughed as she waved her hands in front of her face.

"Oh suck it up! Cherry cough syrup tastes good." Teased Steph as she came up behind her.

"Nuh uh." Protested Sarah. Rolling her eyes, Steph watched Harry drink the potion he had brewed with Sarah.

'_How long before anything happens?_' wondered Steph as she looked around the classroom, studying the students to see if they were reacting already.

"Who knows," Draco replied outwardly.

"Huh?" asked Steph, turning to face Drao, "who knows what?"

"I was just answering your question," he rolled his eyes, "you asked when this stuff takes effect."

"Well yeah," she answered with a confused expression on her face, "but I didn't say it out loud." Draco's eyes widened suddenly and Steph gasped audibly as they both realized what had happened.

"Oh great!" she exclaimed, "you can hear my thoughts now."

"Well at least we know two things now," said Draco, not seeming bothered by the change of events. "We know when the potion takes effect..."

"Yeah, right away." Groaned Steph.

"And we know that our potion worked," finished Draco, smirking as if he had done all the work and should therefore receive all the credit.

"Well of course it did you nitwit." She spat angrily, "no thanks to you. I swear, I have no idea how you get good marks in this class, you have no idea what you were doing. You skipped a step and almost completely messed everything up!"

"I got distracted, it's all Potter's fault, otherwise I would have been fine." '_Actually it was all your fault, you distracted me you annoying little bitch._' He thought.

"Oh please," she contradicted, pretending she hadn't heard his thoughts. "Harry didn't even talk to you, you're just looking for an excuse."

'_What a joke,_' she thought, '_Who does he take_ _me for anyway? One of his cronies?_'

"I don't think of you as one of my cronies, one of my inferiors maybe, but not my crony."

"Argh!! Stay out of my mind you asswipe!" she cried as she stormed off towards her next class.

'_Not my fault the potion worked,_' growled Draco to himself.

'_I heard that dumbass,'_ he heard in his mind.

"This is going to be a long day." He sighed out loud.

Meanwhile, Sarah was rather enjoying the tie she had with Harry. Before he discovered what was going on, she figured she'd have a little fun with him.

'_Harry..._' she thought in a ghostly manner, '_I am you conscience._'

"My conscience?' He asked out loud, making a few students stare at him. "Why would my conscience have a female voice?"

'_Because I am the conscience of your inner feminine side,_' thought Sarah laughing out loud in her little corner. '_You have been neglecting me Harry, you never even listen to me anymore._'

"I'm sorry, I never really knew you were there." He answered guiltily, immediately regretting his answer.

'_Never knew I was there?_' shrieked Sarah, '_How dare you! From now on you have to do everything I tell you to do, if you do I may forgive you._'

Harry was still unaware that Sarah could transmit her thoughts, he didn't understand what the potion actually did. He figured that a binding potion would make them stick together, like they were handcuffed or something. Unsure of what to do, and unwilling to make anything female angry, he figured he should go along with what his female conscience wanted.

"Er, alright, what do you want me to do?" he asked.

'_I want you to face Sarah and promise to be her friend._' Snickering, Sarah took a deep breath and gave Harry an innocent look as he regarded her with a frown of confusion.

"Problem?" voiced Sarah aloud. Thinking in the back of his mind that the two voices sounded oddly similar, Harry's train of thought was disrupted when...

"Nuh uh, don't sound the same." replied Sarah. Eyes widening as she realized what she had just said, she covered her mouth with her hands as a red tint worked its way across her cheeks. Crossing his arms across his chest, Harry raised his eyebrows in curiosity.

"Don't they?" he chuckled, shaggy brown hair covering his eyes. He didn't notice Sarah pouting until she stomped her foot.

"What's wrong?" he asked curiously.

"Nothing..." she replied. Forgetting about the mental link, she thought to herself, '_All I wanted was a friend, obviously I can't even do that much._' Sighing inwardly she wrapped her arms protectively around her waist as she diverted her attention to the floor. Eyes widening in surprise, Harry let out another chuckle at Sarah's muffled squeak as he pulled her into a hug.

"I'll be your friend, and don't think so lowly of yourself like that." he whispered into her right ear. Squeezing her reassuringly, Harry slowly pulled away. "Look, I have herbology right now, so I have to get going. I'll see you at lunch?" he inquired with a lazy grin. Nodding her head, Sarah waved him off.

'_Hmm... now how to get out of the dungeons._' thought Sarah as she took her schedule out of her bag.

'_Take the corridor on the left, turn right at the second passage and then keep walking until you get to the great hall._' replied Harry's voice in her head. Jumping up in surprise, Sarah thanked him as she walked down the long corridor that seemed a little too dreary for her tastes.

Outside the school, Sarah made her way past the quidditch pitch and headed towards the greenhouse #3. Wondering what she would be doing in herbology, she was surprised to find Harry there, idly chatting with Ron and Hermione.

'_Hey,_' Sarah greeted mentally. Whipping around to see her enter the greenhouse, Harry grinned and waved her over. Nodding politely to Ron and Hermione, she inwardly thought, '_Wonder if they'll be somewhat nice to me today._'

'_What are you talking about?_' questioned Harry as he stared at Sarah, blushing embarrassingly, Sarah shrugged her shoulders.

'_Nothing_' she replied hastily. Ignoring the funny looks she got from the other two, Sarah positioned herself at an empty workstation while Ron and Hermione questioned Harry.

"Let's play 20 questions," she snidely muttered under her breath. Coming up beside her as professor Sprout told them to pair off, Hermione shot Sarah a warning glare.

"What?" snapped Sarah as she turned to face an annoyed Hermione.

"Leave Harry alone LaChance." warned Hermione.

"Why?" she asked curiously. Crossing her arms across her chest, Sarah didn't notice Harry looking at her strangely. Feeling her becoming angry and annoyed, he walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. Turning around, Sarah frowned in confusion.

'_Why does she want me to stay away from you?_' she asked telepathically as she let out a sigh. Turning her back on Hermione, Sarah stared into his emerald green eyes. Stare never wavering, she ignored the class and awaited an answer.

'_Hermione's just a little overprotective around me since the whole Cho incident, she doesn't. She doesn't want me getting hurt again._' He replied with an added role of his eyes for dramatization. Snorting rather unlady-like, Sarah put her hands on her hips.

Continuing their telepathic bond, she said, '_Well too bad for her, we're just friends anyways. And whether it's out of protection or not, it still doesn't give her the right to tell me to stay away from you._' Nodding his head in agreement, Harry promised to talk to Hermione after class. Hugging her in spite of the glare Hermione shot her, he went back over to his station with Ron and listened to professor Sprout ramble on about today's lesson.

Flipping off Hermione, Sarah as well listened to the professor's instructions. Leaving Hermione behind, she paired off with a fellow Gryffindor named Michael.

In transfigurations with professor McGonagall, Stephanie was skimming through her textbook while thinking about how to conceal her thoughts from Draco, when he interrupted her train of thought.

'_What Malfoy?_' she bit out in irritation. Looking across the room at him, she raised one delicate eyebrow as she idly tapped her finger on her crossed arms.

'_Watch your tone Malefice._' He warned, smirking at her he continued. '_Now quit thinking so much about me, I know everyone thinks I'm irresistible and impossibly charming, I mean, who wouldn't think that? But you should discontinue your thoughts unless you know occlumency, which I doubt you would -_'

'_Don't be so full of yourself, Malfoy,_' she glared, cutting him off. Blocking him out of her head, she listened to professor McGonagall explain how to turn a candle stick into a cockatoo. She paired them off to work on their candles, luckily Steph narrowly avoided Draco this time. He had been making his way towards her table when he was intercepted by Pansy Parkinson.

"Oh Draco, isn't it great?" she cooed obnoxiously "we get to work together, maybe we could even make our 'own' magic." She added slyly. She clung to his arm and muttered little love quotes to him. Steph caught the revolted look on his face and just had to laugh.

'_Well Draco,_' she mocked, '_looks like popularity has its drawbacks._'

'_Shut up Malefice, you're just jealous that she beat you to it._' He retorted.

'_As I recall, it was you who was trying to get to me._' She smirked. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to stare into the bright lavender eyes of Blaise.

"Hey Steph," he greeted with a wide grin. "I was wondering if you'd like to be my partner."

Grinning back, she answered sweetly, "I'd love to, but you'd better be ready to work."

He rolled up his sleeves to add to the effect as his eyes gleamed with malice. "I'm always ready to work."

In the meantime Draco had just finished prying Pansy off his arm. He glanced over at Steph and saw her with Blaise, he growled unconsciously; momentarily forget his mental bond to Stephanie.

'_Down boy,_' she said snidely, '_you don't want little miss Pansy to think you're not giving her your undivided attention, now do you._'

'_I'd watch your back if I was you._' He bit back. '_Zabini is known as the Hogwarts player. He doesn't care about anyone but himself and he's always looking for a fresh piece of ass._'

'_Aww... how sweet Draco, you actually care about what happens to me._'

'_I don't give a shit about you, I just don't want to hear him gloating about nailing you like he's done with all the others. His voice is like nails on a chalk board and when tinted with superiority it's deadly._'

'_Do I detect a note of jealousy in your voice?'_ she giggled.

'_Me? Jealous? You must be joking. Why would I be jealous of him?_'

'_Because he gets me as a partner and you're stuck with Starry Eyes over there._' She teased. Draco glanced over at Pansy who was batting her eyelashes flirtatiously at him.

He shuddered, '_Ugh, I'm going to regret this... Stephanie, I'm sorry about the way I treated you, there, I said it. Now will you please save me from this drooling female?_' he pleaded.

'_Sorry Draco, I'm a Slytherin, we don't just save people like that. However, Canadians are a bit more forgiving..._' Draco smiled expectantly. '_However, I just agreed to be Blaise's partner, and I don't like going back on an agreement._' Draco's face fell. '_But I promise that next time I won't let your sweet Pansy get you as a partner, even if I have to take her place, but lets hope that never happens._'

'_So I'm stuck with her!?_' he growled in disgust.

'_Yup!_' she smiled, '_at least for today. You said yourself, everyone is madly in love with you, now bask in the glory of your popularity._' she finished sarcastically.

'_Bitch!_' he retorted.

'_Thank you._' she shot back. She turned back to Blaise who had returned from the teacher's desk with their candles and their set of instructions.

As the class struggled, Steph explained the spell to Blaise and demonstrated with her candle. The candle turned into a perfect cockatoo that sang sweetly when it was done.

"Well done Miss Malefice, 10 points to Slytherin for being successful on the first try," clapped McGonagall, "I want the rest of the class to make an example of her, no one may leave until they make some improvement on their candle. Anything as small as a beak or some feathers will do, please continue."

'_Goody-two shoes,_' mocked Malfoy.

'_You know what Malfoy? Your jealousy is really immature. I thought you were supposed to try and gain my respect. I'd say you're doing a really horrible job!_' she yelled into his mind. Draco quickly stopped his next thought and focused all of his attention on his candle. Pansy had already made an attempt on her own candle and a small feather had sprouted out the top. He quickly performed the spell, turning his candle into a slightly imperfect cockatoo.

"Well done Mr. Malfoy," congratulated professor McGonagall. He turned to smile smugly at Steph, whose own cockatoo was perched on her shoulder. "However, he is rather cylindrical, he still maintains his candle form. I will not be able to award you full marks." The smile vanished from his face as his head shot back to look at his bird, who indeed, was still in its candle form.

'_Not a bad job Malfoy,_' came Steph's voice in his head.

'_Don't bother gloating, I already know yours is better._' He growled.

'_I wasn't gloating, I was just saying you did a good job. I mean, look around you, aside from me, you're the only student who managed to turn it into an actual cockatoo._' She gave him a warm smile, '_you should be proud of your accomplishments, not disappointed in your mistakes._'

'_Are you sure you're not a Gryffindor Malefice?_' he asked after a moment's hesitation.

'_I'm a Slytherin silly, but I could have been in any of the four houses._'

"Oh I see," Blaise suddenly exclaimed, he tapped his candle and muttered the spell as he watched as it sprouted a beak and wings. "Damn, not quite."

"Pronounce the word slower and louder, and roll your 'r' a little more." tutored Steph. He did as he was told and watched as it turned into a full cockatoo with a candle holder instead of feet. "Close enough," she laughed.

"Thanks," he said with a sexy grin, "at least now I can get a passing grade."

'_I can't wait until this cursed potion wears off,_' groaned Draco to himself.

'_You and me both,_' answered Steph. '_I feel like I'm babysitting a spoiled brat._'

'_Babysitting!?_'

'_Yeah, seeing as I can hear your thoughts I gotta make sure you don't do anything stupid._'

'_Yeah, right, like you could ever stop me. Hey! You read my thoughts, but how come I can't read yours anymore?_'

'_You reminded me of my complementary class back in Canada; Occlumency. I can block my thoughts at will._' She answered with a superior grin.

'_God damn it, now I Really can't wait until this potion wears off._' he complained. '_You're like an evil version of that stupid mudblood Hermione Granger._'

'_Who?_'

'_Some know-it-all Gryffindor._' he shrugged.

'_Oh, so someone who knows more then you,_' she guessed. '_You know, just because someone is smarter then you, doesn't mean they're a know-it- all._'

'_You'll understand when you meet her._' He explained.

'_Whate –_' she was cut off. Apparently the diluted version of the potion only lasted an hour. Stephanie grinned, she was finally free of his thoughts, she was getting tired of his snarky attitude. She looked over at him to make sure that he knew what was going on.

He was staring back at her with intense silver eyes. He nodded once to reply to her unasked question. He too realized the potion had worn off. Having completed the assignment in transfiguration, she packed up her books into her shoulder bag and said goodbye to Blaise, who was still working on the feet of his cockatoo, hoping to fix it in order to get a higher grade.

She headed off towards her common room to relax a bit and drop off her bags before lunch. She began reading a book when the wall to the common room opened up. Draco walking in, dropped his bag on the floor and plopped into one of the plush armchairs near Stephanie.

"Miss me?" he asked casually.

"Like the flu" she replied sarcastically, "what do you want Malfoy?"

"Well this is my common room, I'm allowed to seat here. Do you have a problem with me sitting here? Cuz I could always go and sit in that chair." He pointed to a chair closer to her.

"I don't give a shit where you sit, just leave me alone." she complained.

"Well you're the only one here, and I have nothing else to do." he explained like it as the most logical thing in the world.

"Didn't you get enough of me in class and through the potion?" she mocked.

"Nope, that little taste only made me want you more." He winked. Steph couldn't tell if he was joking, or if he was being serious.

"You talk as if I'm a piece of candy," she frowned, placing her bookmark to keep her page.

"Maybe you are." he said lightly as he stood up.

"Candy is sweet and I'm a bitch, you need a new comparison." She laughed quietly.

"Well, in Blaise's eyes, you're a piece of ass, in my eyes, you're a Gryffindor with an attitude and a spot in the wrong house." He walked up to her and placed a hand on each of the armrests of her chair, pinning her loosely to the chair. The motion loosened his hair and a few strands fell into his eyes. "You shouldn't be in this common room, whore."

"Then move your ugly mug out of my face so that I can leave!" she stood up forcefully, which resulted in pushing him out of the way with her body. They glared at each other.

"I'd watch who I called ugly, you Gryffin-whore." he poked her shoulder.

"Keep your bloody hands off me you poor excuse of a wizard." she snarled, reaching slowly for her pocket.

"Look who's talking! I'm a pureblood, I'm rich, my father is well known, I'm handsome, and I could go on, but I'd rather not waste my breath on you."  
  
"Well considering you don't want to waste any breath, you're being pretty long-winded." she smirked. "And I'm a pureblood too, I'm rich on my own, not because of my parents. I'm not pretty, but then, for me, looks are insignificant, and I'm smart, independent, evil and nice, I know the difference between right and wrong, and I know that you're an ass with no common sense." She suddenly whipped out her wand and pointed it in his face. "Now move your sorry excuse of a wizard ass out of my way before I make you!"

"You wouldn't – "

"FLIPENDO!!" she cried as she knocked him across the hall, she picked up her book and stalked out of the common room, she didn't hear him mutter behind her back.

"Not pretty my ass, you need more self-confidence."

She ran through the halls towards the dragon room, she was so furious, '_Who did he think he was?_' she yelled to herself, '_he makes me so mad, it's a good thing the mind link is gone, I never want to hear his voice again._' She fumed. She came up to the room and stopped to calm her nerves before she muttered "Canadian eh?" and walked into the room. She tossed her bag onto the table and threw her book onto the dark green chair she had recently added. She pulled open the lavish doors that led to the balcony.

They had added the doors and balcony after a week of the stuffy room. They each thought of how they wanted it to look and wished for it together. The result had been gorgeous; dark mahogany double doors with ornate golden handles and dark curtains that hung down or looped to the side depending on the occupant's mood. The balcony was a circular ledge that went all around the tower and had a hand rail that wasn't very high. Steph had performed a spell on the railing so that it was impossible to fall off.

Once on the balcony she took a deep breath of fresh, fall air. She walked around the tower until she was able to see the greenhouses. She summoned Ixi using the summoning charm and gave him a message to deliver to Sarah. Ixi scampered off down the tower walls using the stones as grips. She saw him run off towards the greenhouses #3. He was well trained and would wait until the class filed out instead of bothering them.

The bell for lunch rang a few minutes later and the Gryffindor's came out of the greenhouse. She saw Ixi leap onto Sarah's back and climb up to her shoulder. At the same moment, down on the grounds...

"Hey Ixi." exclaimed Sarah, when she recognized the monkey on her back. "Is that a note for me?" she indicated the note that protruded from the small bag on his back. Jumping up and down on her shoulder in response. She took the note out and stepped off to the side to read it. She didn't notice Hermione step off the path behind her. The note read:  
  
Hey Sarah,  
  
If you're looking for me at lunch I'm in the Dragon Room, I need time to cool off, some asshole pissed me off (you know which one I'm talking about). Anyway, if you can, try to bring me some food. I may be angry, but I won't starve myself. I'll see you soon, send Ixi back with your answer to the food part.  
  
Steph

As Sarah folded the letter back up, a voice spoke up from behind her.

"What's the Dragon Room?" asked Hermione, who had obviously been reading over her shoulder.

"None of your damn business. Hasn't anyone ever taught you not to stick your ugly nose into other people's private matters?" scowled Sarah.

"If it was private, you wouldn't have opened it here." replied Hermione, shrugging her shoulders.

"Well if it wasn't private I'd still be walking with the class." shot Sarah.

"Yeah, whatever. So who's Steph? Is she a Revenclaw or a Hufflepuff?" continued Hermione.

"She's a Slytherin."

Hermione was silent for a minute. "Sorry, I thought you said she was a Slytherin."

"I did, do you have a problem with that?"

"Well, she's a Slytherin, Gryffindors do not become friends with Slytherins."

"I was her friend before she was sorted and her house doesn't mean I have to stop being her friend. We Canadians don't discriminate against people because they hang out in a different room. Now bugger off, go shove your big nose into someone else's business." Sarah shoved the note into the pocket of her skirt and stalked off towards the castle fuming and complaining about whore's who thought they could do anything they wanted.

Watching from afar, Harry witnessed the animosity between Sarah and Hermione.

'_I really need to talk to Hermione..._' he thought. Waiting for her to catch up with him, they both walked towards the main doors.

Replying to Steph's letter, Sarah told her she'd meet her there with some food since she had some fuming to do herself. Heading towards where she had heard was the kitchens, she stopped in front of a portrait of painted fruits. Looking on either side of her, she reached out and tickled the pear. The pear giggled and transformed into a doorknob. She walked into the kitchen and was immediately surrounded by the Hogwarts house elves.

"May Glimmer offer sandwiches miss?" asked a short and chubby elf on her right.

"Would miss like a drink?" asked a skinny one on the left, "Pinky has butterbeer available."

"Manky would much like to serve miss."

"Jockly is at miss's service."

"Woah guys," laughed Sarah, "calm down a little, I'll let you serve me. I need food and drinks for two people please." The house elves ran around before she even finished her sentence. Within minutes they had two baskets ready, one with food and one with drinks. She thanked them and they bowed her out of the kitchen. She quickly ran through the halls and traced the now familiar path to the dragon room. She didn't realize that she was being followed, and by more then one person.

Harry was worried when he didn't see Sarah at lunch, he thought Hermione had really upset her. He was heading towards Gryffindor tower when he spotted Sarah walking out of the dungeon corridors carrying baskets. He decided to follow, he wasn't a stalker or anything, he was just concerned about her.

He kept behind her enough to that she wouldn't become suspicious, but she seemed to be preoccupied with something else and didn't even look back. She went through a series of halls then disappeared behind a large tapestry. He waited a few seconds and followed her. Seconds later, a third figure passed through behind them.

When Sarah got to the Dragon Room, she said the password and walked in. Harry had to run to catch up in time to grab the door before it closed. He left it open a crack and looked in to make sure that the coast was clear before sneaking in. He looked around the room in shock, he was so shocked he didn't notice someone else grab the door before it closed.

He slowly walked around the room, taking in his new surroundings. Plush chairs, mahogany desks, hanging basket chairs, bookcases, and ornate rugs littered the room in a half-hazard way, giving the room a calming and welcoming atmosphere. He didn't see Sarah anywhere, but he heard voices coming from behind a set of double doors. He slowly opened the doors, hoping to get the speakers within earshot...

"Don't forget Steph, the quidditch tryouts are Friday afternoon," he heard Sarah's voice say.

"I know, it's the only thing I have to look forward to right now, the people in my classes are assholes, well, most of them anyway," said an unfamiliar voice.

"Well I don't think anyone takes us seriously because we're Canadians," continued Sarah, letting Harry know that she must be talking to another transfer student. "We'll show them exactly what Canadians are made ou – "

"Shh, I heard something..." Harry covered his mouth to hide his breathing. "Patrick?" called the mystery girl.

"Sebastien?" called Sarah. Harry was thinking they were calling for their boyfriends. He didn't understand why he felt a little pang of jealousy over the fact that Sarah might have a boyfriend. But he had other things to worry about, the two girls were heading back into the room and he was about to be caught eavesdropping in a room he probably wasn't supposed to know about.

Too late... he was frozen to the spot as Sarah pulled open the door.

"Harry?" asked Sarah quizzically, "what are you going here?"

"Er...I...er..."

"Were you following me!?" she raised her voice slightly.

"well, not exactly...you see...er..." he stammered, unable to look her in the eyes.

"You were following me! What are you? Some freaky stalker?" she shrieked.

"I was concerned! I was just worried about you!" he said hurriedly. "When I saw you and Hermione have another row, and then I didn't see you at lunch, I got worried. I was heading up to the tower when I saw you. I decided to follow you to make sure you were ok." he hung his head guiltily. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."

"Well, it's not that big of a deal." She said slowly, slightly shocked by the confession. "You didn't hear the password did you?"

"No, I caught the door before it closed."

"Ok, then I guess there was no harm done." Sarah chose that moment to look up at the door. She saw a young boy sneaking towards it dressed all in black and wearing a black bandana over his hair.

"Hey you!" she yelled. The figure froze for a second, then tried bolting out the door. Stephanie was too fast for him, she pulled out her wand, pointed it and yelled.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!!" The figure seized up, his legs and arms snapped to his sides, off balance, he fell onto his back. Steph ran over to him and looked him in the eye.

"I don't believe it," she said slowly. "What the hell are you doing here?" she reached down and pulled off the bandana.

* * *

_Who can guess who the mystery person is? Aries almost killed me when I wouldn't tell her. I have no idea how this is gonna work out, Aries and I had a general outline made, but there was no detail, so all of this is made up as we write, it just goes from my mind to the paper, if you catch my meaning. I'll try to post the next chapter sooner this time, I'm getting used to this summer thing. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this chappy!_

_Read and Review plz!_

_Ja Ne_

_Kie and Aries_


	9. Chapter 8

A/N: _Hey guys, I'm really sorry this is so late but I've been at work most of the time. We love to read the reviews you guys send, keep it up. There will be a plot at some point, but seeing as we added all new characters we kinda have to get them properly integrated into the story. _

_Disclaimer: We don't own Harry Potter and characters, if we did we'd be rich women, just like the wonderful Mrs. Rowling. We own Steph, Sarah, Patrick and Sebastien, and I stole Demona off of my sister, with her permission of course._

_Now, onto the story_

Chapter 8

Underneath the bandana was a head of bright green hair. "Blaise Zabini!"

He stared up at her with innocent lavender eyes. She did the counter curse to her spell but quickly tied him up with ropes that snaked out of the end of her wand.

"Where did you learn all these spells?" asked Harry, he was flabbergasted by the extent of her knowledge.

"When you have an overprotective dad like mine, you get placed in every self defense class available, muggle and otherwise." She explained as if it was a normal occurrence. She turned back to face Blaise who was now leaning against the wall. "Now, will you please explain what the fuck you're doing here, how you found it and how you got in." she glared. "or I hang you upside down by our feet until your face turns purple."

"I followed Potter." He admitted slowly.

"Why would you follow me?" asked Harry, "you hate me."

"Which is why I followed you." He looked at their confused expressions and continued. "You're always breaking the rules, but you never get caught. It's really annoying, so I decided that if I caught you doing something illegal, I could report you and finally get you in trouble. Maybe even collect a few points for Slytherin and impress Stephanie."

Steph's eyes widened at his last comment. "Why would you want to do that?" she asked.

"Cuz you're special, I can tell. You don't take shit from anybody, not even Draco, who basically rules the common room. You showed him up without even trying. And what you told him about earning respect made me feel like I had to do the same." He finished. '_She's falling for it_' he thought to himself. '_She's eating up every word I say_'.

"I guess I can believe that…" said Steph skeptically. '_He's hiding something, I can tell._' "Well Sarah," she continued out loud. "Looks like our secret room is out."

"Yeah, but I kinda don't want to share it with anyone new right now, no offense guys." She said to the two.

"None taken," replied Harry "we didn't exactly do anything to deserve an invitation to stay." Blaise nodded his agreement.

"Well you guys can hang out until lunch is over if you want, but then you'll have to pretend that this room doesn't exist." Offered Steph.

"We'd love to," Blaise replied quickly, he could use this time to make his move. He was confident that he would have Steph all to himself soon enough. Draco would be so jealous, it was so obvious that she intrigued him.

Patrick and Sebastien had joined them about 10 minutes later.

"Hey guys," smiled Steph, "you two missed a pretty exciting time."

"Yeah," laughed Sarah, "two 'stalkers' in as few as two minutes."

"Stalkers?" asked Sebastien, "I don't get it."

"Did they hurt you guys?" demanded Patrick, dropping his bag on the floor and rolling up his sleeves.

"No no, don't worry," Steph replied, putting her hands up for emphasis. "It was just a misunderstanding. We'd like you to meet some of our new friends, Harry Potter of Gryffindor…"

"Hi, nice to meet you," he said.

"Same here."

"Ditto." Finished Patrick.

"And Blaise Zabini of Slytherin."

"Pleasure" he said, bowing his head slightly.

"I've seen you around school, love the hair," answered Sebastien.

"My parents would have killed me!" exclaimed Patrick with wide eyes.

The small group laughed at Patrick's naivety. Soon they were discussing their first day of school.

"There's a girl in my class who's really ditzy," Sebastien was saying. "She's so blonde it's almost funny, but she's really nice, we partnered up, and aside from her attitude, she's actually kind of smart. She wants to be a singer when she's older."

"Ooh…" mocked Steph, "sounds like you're in loooove." Sarah laughed at the deep blush that was quickly covering his face.

"Oh come on you guys." He complained, "I just met her, I don't even know her."

"Aww…" cooed Sarah, "love at first sight. That's so romantic." More laughing followed.

"Well I got stuck with a mental link to Malfoy." Steph said and received an array of sympathetic murmurs. "Let's just say it was a total nightmare. I don't know where he hides his brain. His ego is so big he couldn't possibly have room for it in his head." She glanced at her watch and quickly jumped out of her seat. "Shit we got class in five minutes!"

"What," Yelled Harry, "We'll never make it!"

"We'll have to summon our books." Suggested Blaise.

"Good idea," Piped up Sarah. They all summoned their books. They should have taken turns because all the books flew in through the window together and collided, dropping into a pile on the floor. Quickly gathering up their books they all dashed out the door.

They rushed off in different directions. Steph and Blaise were just running up to greenhouse #3 when the bells chimed. They stopped before walking in to catch their breath. Blaise walked in slightly behind Steph, he watched for Draco's reaction to seeing them together. He saw the frown cross over his face and smiled at him victoriously. Draco gave him the finger then began furiously writing on a piece of paper. He folded it and used wingardium leviosa to make it float over to Steph. She took it and pocketed it.

Walking in after Harry, Sarah sat down in the back of the classroom. Giving Sarah a curious look as Ron and Hermione dragged him over to sit in between them Harry wondered why she wouldn't sit any closer to him. Feeling somewhat disappointed, yet not knowing why he had such a reaction, Harry tuned both Hermione and Ron out as Professor McGonagall entered the classroom.

Head resting n the palm of her right hand, Sarah idly listened to the professor explain how to turn the silver bowl in front of them into a bouquet of flowers. Pulling out her wand as she sat up straight, Sarah ignored the chubby girl who was babbling next to her as she pointed her wand towards the object placed before her. With the flick of her wrist, she grinned triumphantly as her bowl turned into a rather large assortment of red and white roses tied together by a black silk ribbon.

"Well done Ms. Lachance, ten points to Gryffindor." Congratulated McGonagall as she eyed the beautifully bloomed roses on the desk in front of her before walking around to the other desks.

"Thank you." Sarah replied in an almost whispered tone. _'Well that was easy, learnt how to do that last summer.'_ She thought to herself. Feeling a pair of eyes watching her, Sarah looked towards the front of the class to catch Hermione's glare. Smirking as she noticed the drooping daisies that Hermione was holding. Raising an eyebrow inquisitively, Sarah was about to make a snide remark when Professor McGonagall started to dismiss students who had completed their assignment. Gathering her belongings, she placed her unopened textbooks, pieces of parchment and her ink bottle into her bag. Getting up, she silently let herself out of the classroom while sticking her quill in her hair. Muttering just loud enough for Hermione to hear it, she said, "Take a picture next time, it'll last longer." Smiling innocently as she earned herself another glare, Sarah deposited her roses in front of Hermione and left.

'_Learn from examples Granger. You're going down whether you like it or not, seeing how you have no say in the matter after all…'_ Recalling the stories Michael had told her during Herbology, Sarah was told that Hermione was a know it all and was considered the top student at Hogwarts. _'Not while I'm here, and I'm sure Steph will help me out. Witchy bitch needs to learn her place.' _Smirking, she headed towards the Gryffindor common room to gather her books for her next class, before heading to the Dragon room to hopefully meet up with Stephanie.

"Damn I need to talk to her. Hermione is driving me crazy!" she mumbled. Flopping down onto her bed, she muffled her scream of frustration into her pillow. Grabbing what she needed, she got out of the tower and headed towards the Dragon room while wondering what she should do about the nosy little witchy bitch that was posing as a problem for her.

Back in Herbology, Steph was sitting down and reading Draco's note. She had managed to shake Blaise off for a bit. He was nice, but really clingy. The note was short, she could tell it was rushed.

_**Steph,**_

**_I'm sorry about earlier. I was a real jerk. I went looking for you to apologize but I couldn't find you. Will you be my partner for this class? I promise to participate. Let me know._**

_**Draco**_

She figured that he was trying to play her for a fool, sucking up to get something in return later. But knowing that, she had the upper hand. She figured let him do his thing, but don't fall for any of it. She wrote back on the same paper.

_**Whatever, as long as it's not already assigned.**_

_**Steph**_

She floated it over to him. He pulled it out of the air just as Professor Sprout walked in. She was slightly disheveled and looked exhausted.

"Sorry I'm late class," she explained breathlessly, "I had to fight with my venus tentacula. He's hit puberty you see." The class laughed a little at her insinuation. "Now then, how many students are we?" she counted the heads of the students. "Twenty-one? Ok, then I want seven groups of three. You have five minutes to pair up, at the end of which I will put the remaining students into random groups. Go, go!" she shooed them into motion.

Draco caught Stephanie's eye and walked over to her. She nodded, signifying she knew what he wanted. He sat next to her at a workstation and they waited for the five minutes to pass. Blaise fought his way through a flock of girls and made his way to Steph. He stopped shortly when he noticed Malfoy sitting next to her, his pause was enough to lose sight of both of them behind a crowd of seventh year Slytherin and Ravenclaw girls. Luckily that friend of hers, Sebastien or whatever, already had two partners, other wise his plans would be set back. He pushed through the crowd again and walked up next to them.

"Hey guys, mind if I join you?" he asked, resting his hands onto the table in front of Steph.

Draco glared at him. "Why don't you ask one of your hoes to go with you?" re replied icily. "They all seem so anxious to be your partner."

"He's right, there's an entire crowd of girls who seem to be dying to work with you." Steph pointed out.

"Well usually I would, but I don't do so well in Herbology and I want to work with partners that will actually do their work and could possibly explain it to me in a way that may help me pass." He gave Steph such an innocent puppy dog stare that she felt she was being played for a fool, but she agreed anyway, to many protests from Malfoy.

Thanks to expert control from Steph, no fight broke loose between the two males, mainly because she had muttered "Silencio" to them. It was a pleasantly quiet class and the dagger glares they sent each other were ignored.

The rest of the week passed in much the same way. Sarah continued having problems with Hermione, while Harry and she became good friends, Steph was stuck with Draco acting like an ass one minute and trying, emphasize the word trying, to be her friend the next, and Blaise was sticking to her like glue.

It was Friday afternoon, and the tension of the upcoming quidditch tryouts was intense. Sarah and Steph were in their advanced defense against the dark arts class. Professor Lupin had returned at the request of professor Dumbledore and under the assurance that only students with parental permission would be in his class. The two had immediately signed up for the class, Stephanie wanted to become an auror, and Sarah wasn't sure yet where she was going, but the dark arts fascinated her. After this class, they shared DADA with the rest of the Gryffindors and Slytherins. Although it was Friday and the weekend was hours away, they were a little stressed. They'd been stuck in double potions all morning also, they used the stress they were under to increase their performance in class.

By the end, they had each amassed a great deal of points for their houses. The class was composed of an obstacle course where they faced a variety of dark creatures after a short study session to teach themselves how to stop each creature. It was a test to make they were advanced enough to remain in the class. Only two boys were asked to see Professor Dumbledore about a course change. When the bell rang, the two girls remained in the class, as they had the same teacher next.

The rest of the class strolled in, Steph quickly told Sarah to be her partner in case they were paired up. She didn't want another fight. Sarah agreed and laughed at her predicament.

"You're always in the middle of at least two guys. They must like your attitude or something." Sarah laughed.

"Oh shut up," Steph complained, "you always make an enemy for every friend. At least I don't have any enemies yet."

"Ooooh… that was low…" she mocked, acting hurt. She broke into a grin and they laughed at each other and themselves.

The class passed quickly; near the end they had a question and answer session. The questions were mostly answered by Sarah, Steph, Harry, Draco and Hermione. Near the bell time, Lupin was asking the difficult questions, and only Steph and Hermione were left answering, it became a showdown to see who would get the most right. Lupin had to call a truce when the bell rang and awarded them both 20 house points.

The students rushed out of the classroom, Sarah and Steph were laughing. They planned on meeting in the dragon room after they had dropped off their bags.

Once in their shared common room, Sarah burst out laughing. "Did you see the face on that bitch?" she chocked out between fits of laughter. "She was in shock! You answered her question for question! I don't think she's ever been second best like that before."

"I wasn't trying to beat her, I just knew the answers. Now stop yappin', get your broom and let's go kick people off the quidditch teams with our Canadian flying. Cuz once you fly in Canadian weather, no one can beat you." She winked, laughing.

Sarah nodded her head, "true true, with all the shit we go through, this should be a breeze." She teased. They both grabbed what they needed and set off for the pitch.

Sarah and Steph realized they were a little early for the tryouts, they were the only ones on the pitch.

"Feel like practicing a little?" asked Sarah as she leaned against the hilt of her broom.

"Why not. Just try not to show off too much, people don't like show offs."

"Ok, ok, I'll tone it down a little," she smirked evilly, "ever been to the beach?" she asked.

"A few times, why?" Steph answered.

"Can you surf?"

"Sure, it's easy, haven't tried doing tricks yet, but I can stay on the board. What are you getting at?"

"Nothing," grinned Sarah, she ordered her broom to hover a little off the ground. She stood on the handle and controlled it skillfully as if she was surfing on air. As she rose higher, Steph hopped onto her own broom and followed Sarah.

"You going to be okay without a spotter?" she asked, "I wanna go practice some seeker moves."

"Go right ahead, I do this at home all the time" explained Sarah.

"Oh yeah… ok then, be careful anyway."

"I will," assured Sarah. She was now trying to do a handstand on the broom. "Those years of gymnastics weren't wasted," she grinned.

Steph looked back and laughed, then turned back to focusing on perfecting her favorite seeker move, the Wronski Feint. She climbed as high as she thought necessary and dove suddenly in an impossibly steep fall. To any unaware spectators, it would have seemed as if she would crash head first into the ground below. Viktor Krum was the only known professional seeker to be able to perform the feint perfectly, and after 3 years of practicing, her technique was finally flawless, and being skinnier and more agile then Krum, she was able to pull out even closer to the ground, she told herself it was a good thing to know in case the snitch actually decided to fly that low.

After another perfect dive, she checked her watch and saw that there were 5 minutes until try-outs. She turned to call to Sarah who was busy trying various turns and flips in the air.

"Sarah! Time to land, try-outs are in a minute."

"Okie Dokie!" she answered cheerfully, "I'll race you!" she called as she dove.

Steph dove after her and easily won the race, she wasn't a seeker for nothing.

"Poop on you, you cheated" Sarah complained.

"You were closer to the ground then I was!" Steph shot back.

"So? You… you smell bad!" she said, thinking of random insults, trying to win.

"I smell like raspberries Sarah… just give it up." Sarah stuck out her tongue, just to have Steph mimic her.

"Alright Quidditch player wannabes," called Madame Hooch." Line up according to house in front of your appropriate Quidditch team." There was a quick scrambling as everyone tried to catch the front of the lines.

There was a tryout for every position, but the most popular ones were for keeper and chaser. Sarah was up next for the beater tryout.

Since Fred and George had both walked (or rather flew) out of the school in the 5th year, the Gryffindor team had been in desperate need for a good beater.

"I will release one bludger into the air, you will fly around and protect 2 members of the team by hitting the bludger towards any of those targets over there." explained Madame Hooch, pointing to moving targets the size of 17 year olds. "You will have 5 minutes. Mount your brooms… on my whistle then TWEET

Sarah gripped her beater club tightly as she kicked off the ground. Seeing as Harry and Ron were the only Gryffindor team members left from the previous year, she had to protect them from the bludger. She swerved in and out, over and under, hitting the bludger towards the targets for a dead on hit each time.

Madame Hooch blew her whistle to signal the end of the 5 minutes. Sarah knocked the bludger towards the box and it fit nicely into its holding space. A nearby student quickly snapped into place.

"Now then, seekers please. You will compete against each other, 2 at a time." explained Madame Hooch. "There will be a number of other players on the field to see how well you can maneuver around people. We're lucky to have an even number of seeker tryouts, the first two then please." She called. Two seekers mounted their brooms and floated towards Madame Hooch. She blew her whistle and they flew into the air. She released the snitch moments later. The players flew around in random patterns while the seekers flew around in search of the miniscule snitch.

About ten minutes later a seeker shot off to the right, the second seeker following suit. Steph's trained eyes had already noticed the fleck of gold in the sky. She watched as the first seeker closed in, stretching out his hand in an attempt to wrap his fingers around the ball. The whistle blew as soon and he had the snitch secure in his hands.

Now it was Steph's turn, her heart was pounding with the increase of adrenaline. She mounted her broom and tensed her legs for the whistle. About three minutes into it, Steph noticed the snitch, but she was having too much fun, she didn't want to have to stop flying yet, but she didn't want the other seeker to see it, so she dove suddenly and shot off to the ground.

She'd use the Wronski Feint to distract the other seeker for this time. Sure enough, the other seeker dove after her, believing her to be chasing the snitch. A collective gasp rose up from the crowd as it seemed they would both crash into the ground. At the very last possible second, Steph pulled out suddenly, the other seeker pulled out just enough to minimize injury as he plowed into the ground. Steph sped back up, her broom obeying her every whim. She swooped in and out of the players and twisted around the goal post to catch the snitch easily.

She then floated to the ground and went to check on the other seeker to make sure he was alright. Once assured of his condition, she handed the snitch to Madame Hooch and went to sit next to Sarah in the stands. The next tryout took another 15 minutes before a Ravenclaw boy caught the snitch.

"Well done students, that was a great tryout" yelled Madame Hooch over the noise of the small crowd. "I will give envelopes with the results to each student who tried out, you will either receive a "sorry, you didn't make it", "You made the team" or "please challenge current." If you have received the latter, report back here at 10 tomorrow morning to challenge the student in the position you want, the winner plays on the team."

She looked around at the students as envelops appeared in front of them "Enjoy your Friday, I will inform the team captains of the situations with their teams. So keep cool and stay out of trouble." Her pale yellow eyes gleamed.

The students tore open their envelopes, and soon the dusk light mingled with disappointed moans and ecstatic cheers from the stands. Sarah jumped out of her seat, she'd just been named the new Gryffindor beater. Steph on the other hand wasn't as happy.

"What's wrong Steph? Didn't get in?" asked Sarah.

"Well, yes and no, I have to come back tomorrow to challenge the current Slytherin seeker." She explained as she crumpled the paper and lit it on fire with a prod from her wand.

"Oh, you'll beat them for sure. Don't worry. When you did that Werki or Worsky… or whatever, Hooch was is shock. And I heard the seeker isn't all that good, had the snitch right next to his ear and never even saw it."

"I know who the seeker is, that's the problem. It's Malfoy," she groaned.

"You mean that really hot guy who bugs you?" asked Sarah.

"Yeah, just when we call a small truce, I have to kick him off his team," she smirked. "Guess it's back to square one."

"Don't worry about it, if he gets mad cuz he doesn't want to be beaten by anyone, then he's egocentric, if he gets mad cuz he was beaten by a girl, then he's just jealous," winked Sarah. "Now come on, let's sneak into Hogsmeade for a butterbeer for our victory," she grinned.

"But we don't even know if I'm on the team yet…"

"You will be on the team, you're the best seeker I know," encouraged Sarah, "and if you dare lose on purpose just to make him feel better, then I will spread so many rumours about…" she warned.

"Ok ok, I won't try to lose. Now lets get going before it gets dark." She started to walk to the castle when she stopped suddenly, making Sarah crash into her.

"Hey! Watch it!" she complained as she caught her balance.

"I just remembered," thought Stephanie out loud. "We don't know how to get to Hogsmeade…"

"Yeah, you're right" Sarah answered sadly. "well, we could always go down to the kitchens and ask for butterbeer and celebrate in the dragon room."

"Good idea, you get the butterbeer, I'll send Ixi to give a message to Patrick and Sebastien to meet us there," Steph planned excitedly.

"I'll race you back to the castle," Sarah challenged, running ahead.

"Hey, no fair!" Steph called after her, running to catch up, "you cheated."

They raced back to the castle as a figure stepped out of the forbidden forest. She was a young girl with very long, straight black hair that reached her lower back. She was very thin and pale.

She watched silently as Sarah and Steph went into the castle, her deep, red eyes gleaming maliciously in the darkening sky. After a moment, she seemed to dissolve, her red eyes continuing to glow until they too vanished. A whisper hung in the now chilled air.

"_Draco…_"

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_A/N: I'm so sorry guys, this semester at school has been hell, and there have been non-stop computer problems, but look on the bright side... we updated... _

_Anywhos, hope you guys enjoy this next chappy, and remember_

_read and review, we love your comments._

_Kie & Aries_


	10. Chapter 9

_Yay started on the next installment lol took a while to get up the last chapter, but we were both swamped with school work and stuff so sorry for the inconvenience…and please don't forget to review! We really appreciate you reading our story, but it'd mean more to us if you would review, no matter how much or how little you really have to commentate on, it's just so we know that we're not putting it up for no one to read…and thanks to Graham lol… gotta love his comments grins impishly and no more threatening for updates lol! shakes fist it takes a while for us to write it all out by hand then retype it all and edit it cringes lots and lots of pages….ne who, enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: we keep forgetting these, but we know you guys are smart enough to know we own none of J.K. Rowlings characters_

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Chapter 9

The next morning was dark and cloudy. When Steph woke up to her alarm, she quickly got dressed and grabbed her broom. Today the Quidditch challenges would happen. Hopefully the rain would hold up long enough for her to get her deserved position. She didn't want to completely get on Draco's bad side. His father after all had been in Voldemort's inner circle, or so the rumor went.

Voldemort had been defeated the year before by the Order of the Phoenix. She was worried that he had been raised with those morals and that he would end up being evil. Being on his good side was a good idea. Luckily, the rules for the new challenge tryouts were that the losers would become back-up players.

She grabbed a piece of toast from the dining hall and ate it on her way to the pitch. The house teams were already there.

"Hey there Malefice," called a voice from behind her. She turned around to see none other than Malfoy walk up to her. "You're not honestly trying out for the house team are you? That's a laugh! The Slytherin team does not believe in female players."

"Well maybe you should start; maybe you would win for once." She mocked.

"We always win, unless we're playing Gryffindor." He shot back defensively.

"And they have, or had, three female chasers." She pointed out, "I stand correct."

"Whatever, you only get n if the Captain thinks you're good enough." He snarled. "What position are you challenging anyway?"

"Yours." She stated simply, waiting for his reaction.

"What? Sorry I must have something in my ears; I thought I heard you say you were challenging my position."

"Well you are the seeker right?" he nodded slowly. "Then you heard right, I'm challenging your position." She smiled innocently at him. "Don't worry, I promise to go easy on you." Before he could answer, she turned and walked off towards the challenge table to register.

"Dracky! Darling!" cried a very high pitched voice. Draco flinched in recognition. He was suddenly hugged from behind. "Dracky, my poor darling" He groaned inwardly. "Did that whore say something mean to you precious?"

"Pansy, get off!" he ducked out under her arms. "I told you never to call me that." He said through clenched teeth. Pansy Parkinson was a very annoying Slytherin. She was ugly, with the hair the color of mud and eyes to match. She was short and stubby and her nose was squished inwards, giving her the look of a very ugly pug. She looked at him as if she hadn't heard him.

"I'll rip her eyes out my love. No one insults my Dracky-kins and lives." She growled animalistically.

"I highly doubt you'd be able to do anything." He laughed to himself. "Go ahead then." He told her with an evil glint in his eyes. "Go and rip her eyes out."

Pansy's face lit up with happiness. "Oh really Dracky? You want me to do that for you?" she asked.

"Do what you want, just as long as you leave me alone."

"Oh precious, I know you don't mean that, you're just upset because of that slut. But I'll defend you my love." She grinned, revealing yellow and crooked teeth. She ran off to confront Stephanie.

Draco shook his head; he couldn't believe she used to actually be slightly pretty. But when her father had died, a sudden change had occurred. Her looks had faded to reveal what she was now. It would seem that her father couldn't tolerate to look at her so he bewitched her to look pretty. It was really quite sad. He looked over to watch the action that he knew was about to break out.

"Hey bitch!" yelled Pansy. Steph looked up. "Yeah, I'm talking to you whore!" Stephanie snorted and went back to her book. "Hey! Slut look at me when I'm talking to you!" Sighing, Steph put her book down and leaned back into her seat, casually looking at Pansy with a bored gaze.

"Well?" she asked. "Now that I'm looking at your ugly mug, you can at least hurry up and tell me what you want so that I can go back to my book."

"Hmpf." Pansy squared her shoulders. "I heard what you said to my Draco. I'm here to teach you a lesson."

Steph's eyes widened slightly. "Your Draco?" she asked glancing over at him. He was watching with a smile on his face. "You two going out?"

"Well no." said Pansy slowly. "But we're very much in love. We're just waiting until school is over before we get together. We're going to get married." Steph looked over at Draco again to see him pretending to gag. She laughed out loud.

"Well I wish you luck, I'm sure you'll both be happy. But what does that have to do with me?" she encouraged.

"You upset him with whatever you were talking about. No one is allowed to insult my baby!"

"Oh that…I just said I was challenging his position as seeker today. No harm done. Have a nice day." She picked up her book and started to read again.

It took Pansy a few minutes to understand exactly what Steph had just said when it finally sank in. She realized Steph was threatening her dream boy. "Hey! You're a threat to him! I won't allow it! Stand up and prepare to duel for his love."

"Duel for his love? I'd rather not, you can have him, I just wanted his spot on the team." Steph said slowly.

"Stand and duel whore! Stand and duel." Pansy shrieked. She looked as if she was becoming hysterical.

"Oh for God's sake, shut the fuck up! You can have him! Just get out of my way!" With a quick wave of her wand, she pushed Pansy to the side, picked up her broom and kicked off of the ground. Once she was out of Pansy's voice range, she stopped her ascent. She once again took out her book and began to read in peace at least for the moment. She had barely begun a new chapter when a cold drawling voice whispered in her ear.

"Very smooth Malefice."

"Ack!" she yelped in surprise, nearly toppling over sideways. She would have plummeted to the ground if not fro two strong arms that grabbed her and steadied her.

"You ASSHOLE!" she yelled furiously. "You could have killed me!"

"Sorry." He replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes, "I didn't think you were so jumpy."

"I'm one hundred feet in the air; I didn't really expect to have someone whisper into my ear." She shot back testily.

"Right." He drawled nonchalantly, "I just meant to congratulate you on your excellent handling of Pansy. Although I do believe you made a new enemy…"

"I wasn't trying to make a friend." She interrupted.

"Didn't say you were. Oh and you need to report on the pitch in, say, ten seconds or you lose your chance at the team." He said evilly.

She didn't hear the rest of his sentence she was already diving towards the ground. She felt as if she must have broken a record for diving speed. She landed hard and raced to the center of the pitch. Once there, she made her book float over to her bag and tucked her wand into her cloak. Madame Hooch smiled at her as they lined up on the pitch.

"Mount your brooms," she called, "The challenge is for seeker, Slytherin student Stephanie versus Slytherin current seeker, Draco. First to the snitch gets the position." She raised her whistle to her lips, "On my whistle then." And she blew.

The teams rose quickly into the air. Steph immediately saw the snitch duck behind one of the goal posts. She slowly flew into that direction, trying not to attract attention to herself. She flew under the pretense of scanning the pitch. Just as she reached the end of the field, the snitch darted off, she did a full one hundred and eighty degree turn and pressed her body close to the handle of the broom and shot off after it. She followed it closely, expertly weaving through the other players.

"_Shit,"_ She thought. _"It's flying right towards Draco." _She urged her broom to go faster. She was right behind it….so close. He'd noticed! He quickly turned his broom and flew in her direction. Gritting her teeth, she pushed ever closer to her broom, her slim body making it easier to flatten herself.

He was ten feet away…five feet…two feet. With one last desperate attempt, she reached out her arm and stretched her fingers. One foot separated the two seekers. The crowd below gasped. They were going to crash into each other, they were too close. Time seemed to stand still as the rest of the players stopped to watch.

"Forget the snitch!" cried a member of the audience. "Dodge! Dodge!"

At the very last possible second, when anyone else would have crashed, Stephanie pulled her broom up and soared over Draco's head. Draco swerved slightly and drew to a stop. The crowd held their breath. Both seekers shook their heads. The snitch had disappeared in the confusion.

"Nice flying Malefice, next time watch where you're going."

"I was, the snitch was where I was going. I think they sped it up dramatically. The average snitch is easily out flown by a firebolt, let alone a firebolt five thousand." She said pensively.

"Excuses, excuses." He said slowly, circling her like a vulture. "If you can't catch it, you might as well just give up."

"Well it flew straight at you, why didn't you catch it?" she smirked. "Or could you not see it right in front of your face?"

"Just stay out of my way whore." He growled.

"My pleasure." She shot back. She quickly performed a back flip and dove back into the game. The snitch was hidden from view again, so Steph scouted the field. She'd have to trick the snitch next time. Draco was following her closely, like most people she knew, he was hoping to let her find the snitch so that he could catch it. This was what her favorite technique was made for. She dove…

With a startled yell, Draco quickly followed. She suddenly saw the actual snitch. Instead of completing her move, she pulled out and raced for the snitch. Draco pulled out of the steep dive with some difficulty and flew after her. They raced neck in neck for the snitch that seemed unaware of them. Steph was tired of their game; she flattened herself to her broom and shot off like a bullet.

Her fingers closed around the snitch as Madam Hooch blew her whistle. She'd done it, she'd gotten the seeker position.

Draco floated to the ground dejectedly. How the hell was he supposed to prove himself if she bested him in almost every aspect. He watched as the Slytherin team reluctantly welcomed her to the team. They'd never had a female player before. The only one who seemed even remotely happy was Stephanie and she was containing it well. He sat down in the stands to watch the rest of the challenge.

He had gotten changed quickly, wearing muggle jeans and a black t-shirt that hugged his firm chest. When the last challenge was just ending, he stretched out his arms and came into contact with flesh. Startled he turned around sharply and came face to face with a girl about his age.

She had red eyes and gave off an evil aura. She stared at him, her black hair some how flying wispily in the air, even in the absence of a breeze. When she spoke, her lips didn't move, instead he heard her voice in his head, as a hollow echo of a voice. It was very soft but strangely eerie.

"**_Draco."_** She whispered.

He stared at her in shock, unable to utter a word. He looked around him and saw Steph coming out of the dressing rooms wearing hugging jeans that sank low on her hips and a black halter that complimented her honey blonde hair. She saw him and began walking towards him.

"**_Do not fear Draco, she cannot see me. I am only a vision, seen only by you. I only wanted to see you. I've been watching you for so long. I watched you grow up, but you've never seen me. It's been my goal to one day meet you."_**

"What do you mean, you watched me grow up? Who are you and what do you want?" he asked softly, finally regaining his voice.

"**_Your father can answer those questions."_** She smiled softly, making her features soften, yet making her appear cold and cruel at the same time. Suddenly Steph showed up in front of him. The young girl looked from Steph to Draco and dissolved as if she was only made of smoke.

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_Well now that that's done with lol, might as well start on the next chappy. Hope you guys liked this one and please review! It means a lot to us! Well yeah…umm back to typing lol._

_Ja ne,_

_Aries and Kie_


	11. Chapter 10

_Hello, please don't be mad, we've had a very rough year, and typing up this story took second place to life for a little while. Not to worry though, we have plenty more ready to type up, we just gotta take the time. I'm sure you all understand, so enough complaining, and on with the story!_

_Disclaimer: We do not own, yadda yadda yadda, do not sue, yadda yadda yadda, no money, yadda yadda yadda. Okie? Okie!_

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Chapter 10

"You okay?" asked Steph, concerned by his wide-eyed stare. She sat down where the mysterious figure had been sitting only instants before. "Draco? Can you even hear me?" she waved her hand in front of his face.

He shook his head and stared at her, "I'm fine," he finally said glaring.

"Look, I know you're pissed off, but I'll make you a deal. You can play the first game against each team, and I'll play the second games. Seeing as we play each house twice, we can each have a turn" he stared at her, "that way we also get an even amount of playing time."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" he asked slowly, "I thought you were trying to ruin me."

"That was never my intention. I just want you to realize that you're not better than everyone else because your dad is well known or because you have money" she explained, leaning back in the seat. Her shirt slid up slightly, giving Draco a view of her well toned abs. "I want you to be your own person, to earn the respect you crave through your own means. You may not realize it, but I'm trying to help you" she smiled kindly.

"Well I guess I gotta take back my Gryffindor comments from before. No Gryffindor would even try helping a Slytherin. You must be a Hufflepuff, or rather a huffleslut." He laughed at his own little play on words.

"Look, I'm a Slytherin, deal with it. Back in Canada I was in a house where the people had evil and conniving minds, kind hearts, brave and smart. Here, they'd have to split me four ways to put me in the right houses, so I got put in Slytherin. You're stuck with me, deal with it." She glared.

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In the Gryffindor common room, Sarah was being confronted by the other members of her team. "Hey Sarah, nice job on the pitch today." One of them said to her.

"Umm…. Thanks" she replied as her cheeks turned a shade of red. Trying to get away from the crowd, she frowned when she noticed Harry trying to come towards her while Hermione attempted to drag him out of the common room. An idea hitting her, Sarah smiled innocently as she walked towards them.

"'Scuse me" said Sarah as innocently as she could as she tapped Hermione on the shoulder. Turning around, Hermione glared at her.

"What?" she growled. Rolling her eyes inwardly, Sarah pushed her aside and grabbed onto Harry's arm.

"C'mon" she ordered as her hand trailed down his arm; grabbing his hand she led him out of the common room.

Walking outside and stopping under a large willow tree, Sarah flopped down onto the cushiony grass and looked out at the lake. Joining her, Harry gave her a curious glance. "What?" she asked as she turned slightly to face him.

"What was that all about back there?" he wondered. Shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly, Sarah replied.

"Wanted to get away and saved you from her-hiney?" raising an eyebrow at her nickname for Hermione, Harry grinned.

"My hero?" he asked with a chuckle. Faking a mock bow from her position on the ground, Sarah retorted.

"All in a day's work, 'specially for a damsel in distress." Laughing at his humorous expression, she started laughing even harder when he pounced on her and began to mercilessly tickle her. "Ack! Quit it! Don't do that!" she struggled to free herself.

"Oh you're doomed now; I have a weapon over you!" Harry said evilly. "better watch out or I can make you dance in Snape's class. I highly doubt your friend will be able to get you out of trouble a second time."

"Not unless she dances first" she laughed, finally rolling out of reach.

"That was really cool of her," admitted Harry, "You should have seen Snape's face. I don't think he's ever had a Slytherin tell him to give points to Gryffindor."

"She's not a bad person just because she's in Slytherin," defended Sarah "you people are so prejudice. You do realize that every person in that school has the trait needed for each house. It's the decisions we make that make us who we are, that place us in our houses."

"That's what Dumbledore told me in my second year." Harry said, thinking back, "but not everyone has a quality from each house, I mean look at Draco. He's pure Slytherin."

"But he's brave and loyal to his house, those are Gryffindor qualities are they not?"

"Well… yeah."

"And he's smart and uses his wits, ideals for Ravenclaw."

"True."

"And he's calm, quiet and caring." She finished, "just like the common Hufflepuff."

"I disagree with the caring part, but otherwise I see your point."

"He cares about how he is seen by people. It might be the most selfish kind, but it's still caring."

"I guess." He leaned back against the tree and put his hands behind his head, "You Canadians are so different from what I'm used to."

"Is that a bad thing?" she asked looking down sadly.

"Not at all, it's a great attitude, everyone should have it," he said hastily, hoping he hadn't offended her.

She smiled a little, "Canadians are known as the neutral people. We see everyone for who they are and not for what they are."

A small, comfortable silence ensued.

"So you're the new beater on our team huh…" said Harry, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah, cool eh?" she smiled happily.

"Do you ever practice at home or your old school?"

"I was actually a chaser on my old team, but I love hitting stuff, and in the muggle world we practiced a sport called baseball, I was on a team when I was younger."

"Cool," he answered, nodding his understanding of the similarities between baseball and beaters.

Another silence followed as Sarah lay back onto the cool grass and looked up at the sky. The sun had just finished setting and the first stars were glowing dimly in the pale sky.

"Hey, you wanna sneak into Hogsmeade?" he asked suddenly.

"We'll get caught. There's no way there." She said looking at him.

"I know a secret passage, and not even Filch knows about it."

"Umm… well can I invite Steph? I wanna celebrate with her."

He looked slightly disappointed but he nodded anyway, "sure, why not."

"K! cool, just give me a minute, I think she's still on the pitch." She kissed his cheek quickly in thanks and stood u, "I'll be right back," she ran off towards the pitch.

* * *

Steph was still sitting in the stands next to Draco when she saw Sarah running towards them.

"Oh look," growled Draco, "a little Gryffindor coming to rat us out for being out so late." He started to reach for his wand when Steph put her hand on his arm to stop him.

"Don't even think about it." She shot, "that's my friend. She came to talk to me, not to get us in trouble."

Draco looked down at the hand on his arm and was thankful for the fact that she wouldn't be able to see the faintest of blushes that he knew were covering his cheeks.

"Hey Steph!" called Sarah as she ran up the last few stairs to meet her. "And….Draco was it?"

He nodded slowly, though his disgusted stare was clearly visible even in the pale moonlight.

"What's up Sarah? Why are you out so late?" asked Steph, elbowing Draco in the ribs to signal him to behave.

"Just hanging out with Harry," Sarah smiled.

"Potter!" spat Draco, "that no good Gryffindor."

"Watch your tongue pal, you don't talk about any of my friends like that," she glared.

"Don't worry about him Sarah. Was there something you wanted?" interrupted Steph. She could sense a fight coming on, and she was too tired to deal with it.

"Oh yeah," she said, remembering the reason for coming to see Steph, "Harry wants to treat me to a victory butterbeer in Hogsmead. I wanted to know if you wanted to know if you wanted to come too."

"Potter's sneaking out?" asked Draco, finally interested. "perfect, I can finally get him in trouble for something."

"I'd love to come, Sarah. And I'll bring Mr. Malfoy along too, just to make sure that he can't get your friend in trouble without implicating himself." She shot Draco a look that could have killed.

"Umm… How do you expect to get him to go with you? I doubt he'd just tag along." asked Sarah.

"Easy, like this, _ligaros_ (A/N: ligare is latin for bind). Now he goes where I go, and since I cast the spell he can't just pull me his way, he has to go my way." She smiled evilly at Draco who swallowed nervously.

"You won't get away with this Malefice." Draco added as Steph stood to follow, Draco being unwillingly dragged along, "I know the counter curse."

"Good for you," she smiled sweetly, "kinda useless without this though, isn't it?" she showed him his wand, which she had obviously taken from his pocket when he wasn't looking. "Now do us all a favor and try to enjoy this outing."

He muttered under his breath as Steph and Sarah led the way to where Harry was still sitting.

After a quick explanation of Malfoy coming along and many protests from Harry, the teens moved off towards Hogsmead. Harry decided to use the passage under the whomping willow instead of the one in the castle because it wasn't as secret. He didn't want Malfoy to know too much.

They emerged from the shrieking shack 20 minutes later and walked towards the Three Broomsticks. Sarah had looped her arm through Harry's and the duo led the way as Stephanie and Draco pulled up the rear. Draco was a lot more civil now, because Steph had threatened him with a number of different curses if he didn't behave in public. He decided to play along for now, after all, revenge is a dish best served cold.

The four teens walked into the Three Broomsticks and found a table in a secluded corner. Sarah went to buy drinks for everyone as Stephanie tried to keep the peace between Harry and Draco.

"What are you playing at Draco?" asked Steph angrily. Draco had begun to reach for his wand which was in Stephanie's belt on her right side. He, however, was on her left and his reaching attempt had led Harry to point out where his hand was headed. "Keep your hands off of me you perve!"

"Oh please, as if I'd want to touch you, I was simply reaching for my wand, which you hold captive." He said as innocently as he could. He turned to glare at Potter, "thanks a lot Potter" he spat, "trust you to stick your nose where it doesn't belong."

"As if I'd let you do anything where you need to sneak you low-life coward." Shot Harry.

"Coward? You're the one who runs to your precious Dumbledore and Gryffindors when something scares you!"

"Well at least I don't run to my father like you do!"

"At least I have a father, and a mother for that matter."

"At least my parents died for what they believed in. They actually cared enough for me to give their lives. I doubt your parents love you at all, especially with those looks of disgust on their faces when you're around. I doubt they'd die for you. They'd probably give you up the first chance they'd get."

"Why you!" Draco shot out of his chair.

Sighing in exasperation, Steph yanked on his soft, platinum hair.

"Ow! Hey, what the hell was that for?"

"Sit down, do you want to get us kicked out?

"Did you have to pull on my hair like that? It really hurts!"

"It's the easiest way to stop someone from doing something stupid using only one hand. Now will you both please pretend you like each other while you're here? I'd like a quiet night of sneaking out" she looked at both of them, aside from the glare they sent each other, they were otherwise acting civil. "Here comes Sarah with the butterbeer."

"Hey guys," said Sarah cheerfully as she set the tray of drinks down, "why the long faces? You look like someone stole your favorite toy and put it out of reach," she motioned to Harry and Draco's faces.

"I told them to play nice for the night. Don't think they're too happy," explained Steph, "let's just enjoy our night out, let them pout."

"Good idea," Sarah sat down next to Harry and Draco, keeping them at least one person apart.

"So, Sarah," snarled Draco, "what's a goody-goody Gryffindor doing sneaking off grounds at night."

"Who said all Gryffindors were goody-goodies?" she asked innocently, "maybe I just asked the hat to put me in Gryffindor."

"Doesn't work that way, the hat finds out what kind of person you are." He said haughtily as if he knew everything. Goody-goodies belong in Gryffindor with the rest of the saps.

"And who belongs in Slytherin? The snobs and dumbasses?" growled Harry.

"Hey!" yelled Stephanie, "you take that back, I'm not snobby or dumb, I could probably make your grades look pitiful."

"Well, there's an exception to every rule, I guess." Harry shrugged, "I don't even know what you're doing in Slytherin, you'd be better in Gryffindor, or even Ravenclaw."

"I'm in Slytherin because I wanted to be, I asked the hat to put me in it and it agreed."

"You hear that Scarhead?" smirked Draco, "she wanted to be in Slytherin, she knew which house was clearly the best."

"Actually, I chose it because I liked the house color," she blushed.

Sarah rolled her eyes and Harry laughed as Draco looked at her in shock.

"The hat let you in Slytherin just because you liked the color?" he asked wide-eyed.

"The hat places you where you want to go, it's our choices that make us get 'chosen' for the houses. And sure, those other things they talk about; bravery, cunning, brains, and caring, they influence it a little, but in the end it's your choice."

The teens stared at her in silence when finally Harry broke the awkward moment.

"Didn't I get that same speech earlier tonight?" he asked.

"Ok, enough about school, I snuck out for a reason, to get AWAY!" Sarah chipped in.

Harry laughed out loud and Steph smiled, slightly embarrassed to have rattled on like that. She took a long sip of her butterbeer and hiccupped. They all laughed at her as her face put the Weasley hair to shame.

A few hours passed and Draco began to relax, even with Harry present. It wasn't like he actually liked the guy, but he could bear to be in the same room as him now. He'd never tell anyone though, after all, he had a reputation to maintain.

"Hey guys, it's almost midnight, we have to get back." said Harry, suddenly breaking the moment, "we'll get caught sneaking in for sure."

"No we won't," scoffed Steph, draining her cup, "all major teacher patrols end at midnight, less security to get by. And if we go in by the woods, we can get into the dungeons without even crossing the grounds."

"How?" asked Sarah, stifling a yawn.

"A passage I accidentally found looking for a bathroom."

"Okay then," Draco drawled, stretching his arms over his head, "let's hope you don't get us lost." Steph poked him sharply in the ribs with her nail. "Oof, that hurts, you have sharp nails," he complained.

"I keep them sharp for a reason. Now, as punishment for your comment, you're paying for my drinks."

Sarah smirked, "What!" he cried, "but you've had like 10 of them!"

"You're supposed to be rich, now prove it and pay." He opened his mouth to comment, "and not a word out of you, or I'll leave you behind for McGonagall to find." He quickly shut his mouth, but his glare said enough, Draco was not a happy camper.

After they each paid for their drinks, Draco mumbling the entire time, they left the pub. The trip back onto the grounds was uneventful, Draco jumped every time there was a howl or a rustle in the bushes.

"A little jumpy are we, Malfoy?" grinned Harry.

"Unlike you, I don't live in here, Potter!"

"You're too chicken to even sleep outside for a night. You're just a mama's boy!"

"Would you two be quiet! You'll attract every beast around." Whispered Steph, "Do try to remember we're trying to sneak in, in order to do that you have to be quiet, so stop thinking with your cocks and start using your brains."

Harry and Draco glared at her but they kept quiet. It was barely 5 minutes later when Steph signaled them to stop. The edge of the forest could be seen through the trees. They had stopped in a little clearing, the moon shone through in a thick beam onto a flat rock in the very center. A small, clear river ran off to the right.

Steph walked up to the stone and placed her hand into the moonlight, she whispered a spell and the stone dissolved, revealing a stone staircase. She motioned for them to go down and the four teens disappeared.

* * *

_There ya go guys, chapter 10 is up, I hope the cliffy isn't too bad this time, I know I can be a little nasty with those. I spent all day typing this thing up, yeah yeah, with distractions along the way of course. Hope you all enjoy it, I'll do my best to type up the next chapter soon. For now, a big dose of beauty sleep is what I'm aiming for._

_Don't forget to review!_

_Ja ne_

_Aries and Kie_


	12. Chapter 11

_A/N: I know, I know, please don't kill me, or Aries, we've been soooo busy it's not funny. There's been illness and death coming at us from all angles, and this story came in second to our lives. Here we go again, trying once more to keep our readers happy with this next chapter._

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Chapter 11 

They walked down at least 100 stairs. Draco was about to open his mouth to complain when he hit his head on a low hanging rock. His swearing echoed from deep within the tunnel.

Sarah snickered as she ducked to avoid doing the same mistake. She tripped over his foot and fell down the last step. As she hit the floor, torches lit up all along the tunnel wall.

"You ass wipe!" she yelled, "you did that on purpose!"

"You laughed at my expense, that must be punished," he said casually, rubbing his forehead.

Steph came up behind him and shoved him to the ground. "You mother fucking slut whore!" she yelled, "you could have killed her! How did you know how many stairs there were?"

"I didn't think about that." He said calmly brushing himself off.

"You didn't think period!" she helped Sarah up and stormed off down the tunnel. Harry walked up to Draco.

"Good job dumbass." They followed the girls down the tunnel, Draco thought to himself.

"I know it was stupid, now I got Steph on my ass, she'll never let me live this down, it's going to be a long week…"

* * *

Finally coming to the end of the passageway after walking a bit after the staircase, they all watched as Steph pushed on one of the stones that was sticking outside of the wall. 

"I have to remember this place." said Sarah aloud as she took a quick look around. "Hey Steph, where down this take us to, inside the school?" she asked, but before Stephanie could answer, the wall before them opened up and moved to the side. Stepping out after Steph, Sarah continued to wonder what area of the school she was in until she saw a familiar painting.

"Slytherin Hall…" she muttered under her breath. Turning around as the secret passage closed behind Harry and Draco, Sarah took hold of Harry's hand. "Alright, talk to ya in the morning Steph, and Draco, next time you touch me, be prepared for an ass kicking." She threatened. Ignoring Draco's glare, Sarah sprinted off down the hall with Harry in tow, after waving farewell to Steph.

Running through the corridors and almost getting caught by Filch, Sarah grinned as they ran down the last hall and stood before the portrait of the fat lady.

"Pickleweasel." Harry said as he took a moment to catch his breath. Ignoring the fat lady's protests at being woken up at such an ungodly hour, they walked into their common room.

"Thanks for bringing us Harry," whispered Sarah as she shuffled her feet out of nervousness.

"Eh, no problem, it was fun even if Malfoy had to tag along, and him tripping you was rather uncalled for." Harry replied, his grin forming into a frown at the thought of Malfoy.

"It's not like I broke anything, I'll just have a bruise on my ass is all. And if he thinks I can't do much damage because I'm a girl, just wait till he starts something up…" she trailed off. Coughing as her cheeks went red she said, "sorry, you don't need to hear this so umm… goodnight and thanks, I had a good time." Kissing him on the cheek, she ran up into the girls dormitory and left a dazed Harry Potter standing with a baffled expression in the common room. Shaking his head, Harry muttered something under his breath as he headed towards the boys dormitory, thinking to himself that Canadians were rather different.

* * *

Meanwhile, Draco and Steph had just entered the Slytherin common room to find Blaise and Pansy glaring at them from their seats in the plush leather armchairs. "Had fun?" Blaise asked snidely as he crossed his arms and fixated both Steph and Draco with a glare. 

"Where were you two?" demanded Pansy as she got out of the chair and waddled slightly over to Draco's side.

At Pansy's attempt to sexily walk towards Draco, Stephanie frowned. "What the fuck are you two doing up?" she growled, facing Blaise.

"I could ask you two the same thing" he barked. "I demand to know what you were doing with him" he pointed to Draco.

"Oh I don't know, I had a lot of pent up sexual frustration, so I just went and shagged the first guy I saw." She replied sarcastically, "what do you care what we were doing? You don't own me, you can't control me. Mind your own business."

"You shagged him!" Pansy shrieked, "you keep your filthy Slytherin wannabe hands off of my Dracky!"

"Shut your mouth you ugly cow." Draco said calmly turning to face her, "how many times do I have to tell you? I'm not yours and I never will be. You were a one-night-stand so get over yourself and move on." He gave her such a glare that fear shone clearly in her eyes.

She slowly backed away, her eyes brimming with tears. "But Draco, we were meant for each other. It was written in the stars…" she said pleadingly.

"You failed divinations, you wouldn't even know what a star looked like," he scoffed, "now get out of my way, I'm going to bed" he walked off towards the dorm rooms, Stephanie followed closely.

As they reached the division that would lead to the rooms, Stephanie leaned over to whisper something to Draco, "it's written in the stars Dracky poo…" she mocked.

"Shut up!" he yelled trying to hit her. She danced out of the way laughing.

"Goodnight 'Darling…'" she drawled, running up the stairs to the girls dormitory. Her laughter could be heard echoing through the common room.

* * *

In the great hall the following morning, Sarah had met up with Steph. "Last night was fun!" exclaimed Sarah, excluding the part where Draco had tripped her, and that she had a very colorful bruise at the moment. 

"Yeah it was fun until me and Draco stepped into the common room to be questioned by Blaise and Pansy," replied Steph as a frown appeared on her face. "We had quite the little argument too. They seemed to believe we snuck out to be together." she explained. A small, evil grin appeared on her face, "so I told them I shagged him just because he was there." Sarah laughed out loud, drawing the attention of the Slytherin table. Draco was glaring at them, he obviously didn't like the idea of a Slytherin sitting at the Gryffindor table.

"I'd better go," Steph said hesitantly, "he may decide to try and get me 'voted out' of Slytherin."

Sarah didn't look too happy, "who cares? He doesn't have any business in your life."

"Well duh, but I kinda have to make it up to him." she grinned again, "I kinda spread a rumor that Pansy was pregnant with his baby and that he had proposed to her."

Sarah fell off her chair backwards, holding her ribs to keep her sides from splitting. She continued to laugh as Steph made her way over to her house table.

"Sarah, are you ok?" asked a concerned Harry as he stood above her. Cheeks red and puffy, Sarah tried to stop laughing but couldn't hold it back long enough to stifle a grin and more laughter taking Harry's outstretched arm, she let him pick her up off the floor before answering.

"Damn that was funny!" she exclaimed. Fixing her hair and uniform, she waved off Harry's confused expression as she sat down at the table.

"What's so funny?" questioned Hermione as she gave Sarah a disinterested look.

"None of your goddamn business you damn brown noser." quipped Sarah, her good mood quickly diminishing. Glaring at her, Hermione scoffed as she stuck her nose in the air. Crossing her arms, she ignored Sarah. Sticking her tongue out at Hermione, she turned to Harry and leaned in close. "Steph's just bugging Draco, I'll tell you more after" she whispered into Harry's ear, winking at him as she pulled away. She picked up a piece of buttered toast and munched on it, while continuing to ignore the strange looks she was receiving from others in the great hall.

* * *

At the Slytherin table, Stephanie winked at Draco as he glared at her. Taking a seat, she grabbed a muffin and began picking at it. Blocking out the random comments her house mates were blabbing, she quickly finished her blueberry muffin and stood up. She was about to walk away from the table when Draco snidely called out. 

"Watch your back Malefice!"

"Nah, mine's fine thanks, but you should watch out for Pansy's, with her having your kid and all. She's bound to have her own difficulties and you should be there for her." She cheekily replied. Turning her back to him once again, she left the great hall and headed towards the dragon room to do a bit of studying. Stifling her laughter as she left the hall, she heard a few questions directed at Draco, and his frustrated cursing.

* * *

Laughing at Draco's outbursts from over at the Gryffindor table, Sarah held onto the table so as not to fall off. 

"Oh, Steph's asking for it, but it's so funny" she giggled.

"What'd she do?" asked Harry as he eyed the Slytherin table.

"She's bugging Draco and saying Pansy's having his kid and that the two of them are engaged." She said laughing as Harry's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. She watched as he choked on a mouthful of pumpkin juice. "Well, catch ya in the common room," she snickered. Getting up from the table, she left the great hall with an amused grin on her face. Whistling a tune as she exited the great hall, Sarah decided she's go find Steph, Sebastien and Patrick to see if they wanted to play a little quidditch later in the afternoon.

As she walked by the teacher's lounge she overheard a conversation between professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, she didn't mean to eavesdrop, but she had an ear for gossip.

"You still plan on announcing the dance, Albus?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes Minerva, the students deserve to have a little fun," Sarah could almost picture the twinkle in his eyes.

"But Albus, the presence hasn't left yet. There's something out there, something powerful."

"There have been no incidents all semester; we don't know if the presence is good or evil, we simply assume it is evil. Let them have fun while they can; if it is evil then we need to keep the students unaware."

"And if it is evil?"

"Then we deal with it when the time comes. Until then, we will have the dance," Dumbledore concluded.

"Very well, I will go deliver the message to all the teachers."

Sarah quickly ran up the stairs and ducked into the first hidden passage she came to. She only stopped to catch her breath when she reached the dragon room.

"Canadian eh?" she gasped. The door slid open; she immediately spotted Patrick and Sebastien sitting in plush chairs playing exploding snap. She looked around and noticed Stephanie in the study section, next to a large pile of books.

"Steph!" she cried out in exasperation, "this is no time to study!"

"Huh?" Steph asked, "and why not? If I get it done now I'll have free time later."

"I got some good gossip!" Sarah exclaimed, "studying can wait" with a wvae of her hand she cleared the table of books.

"Hey! I still needed those!" shouted Steph angrily.

"Don't worry, you'll get them back exactly how they were." reassured Sarah.

Steph leaned back in her chair and pouted sarcastically. "This had better be good LaChance"

"There's going to be a school dance!"

COMPLETE SILENCE

"That's it?" Steph asked.

"Well there was something about something about some powerful presence on the grounds that they don't know if it's evil or good and how we shouldn't have the dance because it might be dangerous and how they haven't been able to find it whenever they went out looking for it." she rambled in a single breath. She gasped, "But the important thing is, we're having a dance! I gotta go shopping, I gotta get ready, I gotta start asking guys out, I gotta—."

"Calm the fuck down," said Steph, "you don't even know when it'll be. You'll give yourself an anxiety attack like this."

"Nuh uh, 'sides, even if I don't know when it is, I can still prepare for it." protested Sarah. Putting his hands on Sarah's shoulders as he came up behind her, Sebastien turned her around to face him.

"Deep breath Sarah! Calm down already." He said as he gently shook her. Taking a deep breath, Sarah stuck her tongue out at him in a mocking manner.

"You know you wanna go to the dance." Said Sarah in a sing song manner.

"I'd rather have my teeth pulled," Steph replied sarcastically, "but I guess I would go, I gotta socialize if I want to fit in at this school."

"Yay!" laughed Sarah, "so who you gonna ask?"

"No one."

"Wha? Why not?" asked Sarah, "you gotta go with someone."

"If they ask me, maybe I'll go with them. But I'm not going to go run around looking like a desperate fool."

"Oh come on… maybe Patrick will go with you."

"Huh? Hey wait, no, don't go dragging me into this" stuttered Patrick, "No offense Steph, but I had someone else in mind."

"Oooh, Patrick has a girlfriend," grinned Sarah.

"No I don't," he blushed, "she's just a friend."

"What's her name?" asked Steph suddenly curious.

"Melanie… she's in Hufflepuff." He answered slowly.

"Way to go, you're gonna get laid" exclaimed Sebastien clapping Patrick on the back.

Stephanie hit Sebastien over the head. "Pervert" she muttered.

"What?" protested Sebastien, rubbing the back of his head. "I was just saying what everyone was thinking."

"You were the only one thinking that," glared Sarah, "we were all thinking that it was sweet that Patrick liked someone."

"Come on guys, it's not that big of a deal," complained Patrick who was now a deep shade of red, "I was only considering asking her to the dance, not like I'm going to marry her."

"Okay guys, let's leave him alone," sighed Steph.

"Yeah, we were trying to find a date for Steph," grinned Sarah.

"What!" cried Steph, "No!" she backed away from the group.

"Oh yes, you're going to the dance and you're going to have a date, even if it kills you" Sarah grinned evilly.

"What about that green haired guy, Blaise?" asked Sebastien.

"Yeah, he seems to like you" smiled Patrick.

He seems to like my ass," grumbled Steph, "look, let's wait until it's actually announced, then we'll worry about me being stuck with a date."

"Ok, until then we'll work on picking an outfit for the dance." Sarah giggled and clapped her hands.

"No, that will wait until it's announced too."

"You suck out all the fun of things" pouted Sarah.

"I do not."

"Fun sucker! 1" she stuck her tongue out.

"Alright, enough girls," Patrick stepped between them, "we'll plan everything AFTER it's announced."

"You guys all suck," complained Sarah.

"Yeah, yeah," the three sighed.

"You guys wanna go play quidditch?" she asked smiling once again.

"That was a quick mood change."

"Yeah, sure, we'll go for a little while," answered Steph, "gotta get my homework done for tomorrow."

Sarah rolled her eyes, "hey, why don't you go to the dance with Draco?" she asked suddenly.

I thought we weren't discussing this anymore…"

"Yeah, but he likes you, I can tell. I'm sure he'll ask y—."

A high pitched scream cut her off, the teens all whipped around to the source of the wailing. Covering her ears Steph tried to be heard, "What the hell is that screaming!" she shouted.

"I don't know, we were just talking about going to the dance with Dra—." A small dragon statue shot across the room towards Sarah's head. She ducked and it crashed harmlessly onto the opposite wall.

Sarah sat on the floor, stunned. The screaming finally stopped and a soft sobbing could be heard. Then just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. The teens looked around cautiously, the next thing they knew they were all pushed to the ground by an invisible force.

The same force began to beat on Steph, as if someone was kicking her in the ribs. "Make it stop!" she cried as she got hit in the face and back.

Sarah scrambled to her feet and cried "RICTUSEMPRA!" shooting the spell in an arc, hoping to hit whatever was attacking Steph. A sharp cry was heard as the spell connected with the invisible attacker. Whoever it was, she landed on a shelf of crystal ornaments and flickered back into view.

Her long black hair flowed angrily around her, she bared her teeth to reveal fangs and she hissed. Her bright red eyes flashed in hatred as she scrambled to her feet and dove out a window.

* * *

_A/N: There ya go! All done with this chappy, hope ya like it, and we'll try not to take so long with the next one._

_Plz read and review_

_Love ya all_

_Aries and Kie_

1 Freaky Friday quote


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

_A/N: So sorry guys, I know it's been a while, but it's been hell since the last chapter, life got in the way. But we'll try extra hard to make it better with this next chapter._

_Disclaimer: Now on with the story, remember, we own nothing but our personal characters._

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Running over the Steph's side, Sarah knelt down beside her. Asking her is she was alright she yelled out for either Sebastien or Patrick to help her get Steph to the hospital wing.

"Hurry up" she yelled in a frantic voice. Helping them pick up Steph without furthering her injures, she told them to meet her at the hospital wing. "I'm going to go find Dumbledore!" she called out, before sprinting out of the room and making her way through the corridors. She was turning a corner at a fast speed when she smacked into something solid. Next thing she knew, she was sprawled on the floor groaning in protest.

"That's going to leave a bruise," she muttered under her breath. She looked up into the smiling face of Albus Dumbledore. A mixture of emotions ran quickly across her face, from embarrassment to relief. Apologizing profusely to him for having run in the halls and almost knocking him over, she remembered that she was actually looking for him and quickly began explaining what had happened in the dragon room to him.

"Whatever it was, it hurt Steph pretty badly. It had red eyes, which is all that I could make out. It seemed to have been invisible or something…" she trailed off as Dumbledore held up a hand to silence her. Putting his hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner he told her to calm down as he walked with her to the hospital wing. Not noticing that they had passed Harry, Hermione and Ron on the way. Sarah was too caught up in wondering how Steph was doing. Knowing that Sebastien and Patrick weren't badly hurt, she put some distance between her and Dumbledore. As they turned into the last corridor she sprinted towards the door that her best friend was behind.

Harry came running up to them, "what happened? Sarah are you hurt?"

"No, I'm just a little shook up, 'scuse me, I have to go check on Steph" she walked into the hospital wing slowly, unsure of what she would see. She saw Steph lying on a hospital bed wearing one of the wing's pajamas.

"Hey Sarah, it's not as bad as it looks" she said in relation to the horrified face Sarah was making. "Pomphrey stabilized me, she just wanted Dumbledore to see before she healed my bruises."

Dumbledore walked in and came over to Steph, Harry sneaked in behind him, leaving Ron and Hermione alone in the hall.

"Oh my God, Steph, what happened!" Harry asked, rushing up to her bed.

"One moment Harry, let her explain," Dumbledore advised wisely, "Miss Maléfice, why don't you start at the beginning?"

"Well, we were all sitting in our secret common room when Sarah rushed in and mumbled something about a school dance." At that moment Sarah lowered her head to hide the blush that was quickly spreading across her cheeks, but Dumbledore didn't even take notice. There was, however, a twinkle in his eyes as he asked Steph to continue.

"Sarah started talking about who should go with who, when she mentioned me going with Draco. That's when we heard a high pitched wailing like someone else was in the room and it was screaming in rage. We tried to figure out what was going on, and Sarah mentioned Draco's name again. She had to duck to avoid being hit with a statue that was thrown at her head." Harry glanced at Sarah in shock; he started to say something when Dumbledore motioned for him to be quiet. "That's when the screaming finally stopped and we heard someone crying, we looked around, but it sounded like it was coming from every where at once. Next thing we knew, we were all on the floor and someone was kicking me in the face and back, I must have passed out or something, because I don't remember the rest."

Sarah jumped in to try and finish the story, "I cast Rictusempra in an arc over Steph to try and hit whoever was there. I hit something and it slammed into the wall. All I saw were two red eyes before it jumped out of the window.

Patrick stood up, "it was a girl," he said solemnly. Everyone turned to look at him, so he continued. "She had long black hair that floated around her, yet there was no wind blowing. She hissed at us, like a snake, and then she dove out of the window."

"I didn't get a chance to see what she looked like; I just cast my spell and ran to check on Steph," said Sarah, eyes darting to the floor. Feeling ashamed that she hadn't noticed who had attacked them, Sarah avoided eye contact with everyone.

"It's ok Sarah, don't beat yourself up about it, the important thing is that you got her away from Steph" encouraged Sebastien as he pulled her into a hug. Resting her chin on his shoulder as she hugged him back, Sarah answered, "but still, I feel bad for not paying attention, what if Patrick hadn't seen her? What then?"

Intervening Sarah's ifs and buts, Dumbledore instructed them all to leave Steph alone for the moment so that he and Madame Pomphrey could talk to her. "She'll be fine after a bit of rest" added Madame Pomphrey as she walked over to Steph's side and directed her to drink the potion she was currently holding. Shooing them out of the hospital wing, she went to check on Steph.

They all left the room and decided they may as well head back to their proper common rooms for the time being. Walking to Gryffindor Tower with Harry beside her, Sarah was grateful for the silence that ensued, until the moment the two of them stepped into the common room and came face to face with Ron and Hermione.

"Harry, where did you run off to?" asked Hermione as she ran up to him and pulled him away from Sarah. Balancing herself as Hermione none too gently shoved her aside, Sarah fixated Hermione with a glare, "he was with me Hermione. And don't you ever get tired of being a brown-noser? Harry may be your friend, but Christ! He doesn't have to tell you everything. He's allowed to live his own personal life ya know." Exclaimed Sarah as she threw her hands up in the air.

Holding her hand up to silence Ron before he could make a comeback for Hermione, Sarah said "control you little girlfriend Weasley, before she royally pisses me off. Unless you want hell to break loose…" Glaring back at her, Hermione was about to lash out on her when Sarah whipped out her wand and cast a silencing spell, sighing in relief as Hermione was silenced, Sarah waved to her then turned to face Harry.

"See ya later Harry," she muttered as she walked away from the group and headed for the girl's dormitory.

Back in the hospital wing, Stephanie was still being fussed over by Madame Pomphrey as Dumbledore continued to question her. "I know professor, but I really didn't get to see her features while being curled up into a ball, but for some reason, I feel that Draco has something to do with this." Said Steph, cringing as Madame Pomphrey poked a sore spot.

"Why would you believe mister Malfoy had something to do with this?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"Well, the girl only got upset when we mentioned his name. I'm not saying he was controlling her or anything, I'm merely suggesting that the girl may know Malfoy personally and that he may be able to help in figuring out who she is."

Dumbledore thought for a moment, "you are very wise for your age. I'll be sure to ask mister Malfoy if he knows of anyone of that description." Madame Pomphrey gave Steph a new pair of pajamas to wear.

"I'm afraid you'll have to sleep here tonight my dear, just to make sure there are no complications. Your black eye should be gone by tomorrow night as long as you keep applying this ointment.

Dumbledore bode them goodnight as Pomphrey pulled the curtains to allow Steph to change.

* * *

In the meantime, Draco had just received a response from his father. He had written him about the girl he had seen the night he went to Hogsmead. His father's reply was none too helpful. It just added to the suspicious story surrounding the girl: 

**_Draco,_**

**_I do not know anyone who fits that description, but I believe you should keep this vision to yourself. We don't need people thinking you've gone crazy. If you have any more of these visions, contact me immediately and I will arrive to aid you._**

**_Your Father_**

**_Lucius Malfoy_**

'_Yeah, sure dad, you're such a horrible liar_' thought Draco. He crumpled the paper and tossed it into the fireplace. He put his cloak on and headed off to the great hall for supper.

When he walked into the door, he was stopped by professor Dumbledore. "Mister Malfoy, I need to have a word with you about an important matter. Would you please meet me in my office after dinner?"

Draco would have normally told the old man to go shove his wand up his ass. But he noticed the tired, drained face. There was no twinkle in his eyes. He knew this had to be relatively important. He nodded and proceeded to his seat.

Blaise came up to him as soon as he sat down. "Hey man, did you hear about Steph?"

"She finally find out you're a prick and told you to go to hell?" asked Draco sarcastically.

"She's in the hospital wing! She got beat up pretty badly, no one knows who did it. Some people are saying her attacker was invisible!" he said quickly, obviously excited by the mystery.

Draco dropped the fork he had been bringing up to his mouth. "What!" he cried, shocking the great hall into silence.

"I said…" Draco didn't let him finish, he ran out the door and raced up to the hospital wing. He pushed open the door to find Steph sitting in bed, reading. She looked up at the sound of the door bouncing off the wall.

"Hi Draco, what are you doing here?" she asked with a smile.

"Who did this? Who did all of that!" he demanded, pointing at her black eye, bandaged ribs and split lip. "Who touched you?"

"Calm down!" she said sternly, "if you can't control your temper, I'll have to ask you to leave." Draco took a deep breath and apologized. "That's better. Now, I don't know who did it, they were invisible. But I know it was a girl. Don't worry, I'm fine. Pomphrey said I can lave in the morning. It's a bummer, but it's really no biggie."

Draco looked pissed off, but he didn't say anything. "Well, if you're done questioning me, I think professor Dumbledore would like to talk to you," she motioned to the door.

"Mr. Malfoy, I'm sure you now know why I wanted to talk to you." Dumbledore said seriously, "please follow me to my office." He turned and walked out of the room.

"Professor, you don't think I had anything to do with this, do you?" Malfoy argued as he ran to catch up. The last thing Steph heard as the door shut behind them was Draco's defense, "I couldn't have done it, I just heard about it."

Once they were seated in Dumbledore's office, the professor calmed Draco down. "Mr. Malfoy, we do not think you are responsible for this, we do, however, believe you may know the culprit. She only attacked when your name was mentioned." At this, Draco looked up shocked.

"I don't understand professor, why would someone attack because of me?"

"We were hoping you could tell us who this girl may be."

"It was a girl? How do you know it was a girl? I thought the person was invisible. Is this some kind of sick game you're all playing?" he started to raise his voice in anger. "Because if it is, I won't stand around and allow you people to insult me."

"Mister Malfoy, we have no such intentions. Perhaps it would help if I were to explain what happened." Dumbledore leaned forward and formed a triangle with his fingers. "Your fellow students had overheard word of a school dance we will be holding. Discussions ensued and your name was mentioned. When they spoke your name, someone, whom no one could see at the time, began to scream in rage. Your name was mentioned again, and a small statue was thrown at the speaker's head, then someone was heard sobbing. That was when the students in question were pushed to the floor. Miss Maléfice was singled out and thoroughly beaten until Miss LaChance was able to knock the assailant into the wall with a spell. The force of the spell forced the attacker to reveal herself. A witness described the attacker as being a young lady with jet black hair, bight red eyes and fang-like teeth."

Dumbledore paused to allow Draco to absorb everything he had just heard. "I've seen her…" he whispered, "I've seen a girl like that."

"Who is she Draco?" asked Dumbledore seriously.

"I-I don't know who she is, she appeared next to me the other night, like a ghost that only I could see." He took a deep breath before continuing, "she said she'd been watching me, said she watched me grow up but that I never saw her. Then she dissolved like she was made of smoke. It's was so odd…"

"It there anything else you can tell me? Please understand, any information can help protect students like Miss Maléfice who may be hurt by this girl," Dumbledore asked.

"I'm afraid not sir, that was all that happened."

"Alright, you may go. But try not to tell anyone too much about the events. I do not wish to cause a panic so early in the school year."

"I understand professor," Draco got up to leave, "not like I want people to know I'm seeing ghosts that aren't there anyway." He turned at the door, suddenly remembering something. "Professor..."

"Yes mister Malfoy, was there something else?"

"Actually yes, I just remembered. The girl told me to ask my father if I had any questions, so I did that. I wrote to him inquiring as to the identity of the girl."

"So Lucius is involved somehow, very interesting," Dumbledore frowned slightly. "Did you receive a response?"

"I did, however it was a less than mediocre explanation. He denied knowing anything about it, yet he demanded I tell him the next time I saw her so that he could come and take care of it."

"Yes, it sounds like he may know something" Dumbledore stood up and picked up his wand. "Do not tell him about this girl, even if you do see her again. It is imperative that we stop her of course, but if your father finds her we will never get our answers. If you remember anything else, let me know immediately. And I know you're not very fond of myself, or the majority of the students in my school, but I implore that you listen to me this once, for your safety, as well as that of all of my students." He gave Draco a stern look, reinforcing his warning. "Now I have some important business to attend to. Tell Madame Pomprey I have given you permission to visit Miss Malefice for as long as you wish to, I want you to tell her what you told me," he motioned to the door, "off you go."

Draco walked down to the kitchen to pick up some food; he never got the chance to eat supper. Thinking about, Steph probably hadn't eaten either, might as well get her a little something too. He walked around in the halls downstairs, cursing his stupidity for not asking where the kitchen was. He was about to give up, to the protest of his growling stomach, when he noticed a Gryffindor skirt turn the corner ahead of him. He followed quickly and discovered it was Sarah. He ran to catch up to her.

"Hey Gryffindor, should you be down here all by yourself?" he asked sarcastically.

"Well I know where I'm going; you're the one who looked a little lost," she replied smiling. Her smile disappeared quickly, "what do you want Malfoy?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you could help me find the kitchen. You see I skipped dinner and my stomach is a touch upset," he asked slowly. "And I'm only asking because I'm being considerate of what happened to you tonight" he added.

"…Right…" Sarah considered helping him, she was headed to the kitchen anyway, so a little company couldn't hurt. "Fine then, follow me," she continued down the hall.

Draco followed her, feeling stupid. He hated asking for help, and asking a Gryffindor was a new low. He hoped no one from Slytherin saw him, they'd never let him live it down. It was a good thing Sarah was Steph's friend, someone he knew and occasionally, god forbid, got along with.

When they turned the last corner they stopped in front of a painting of a large bowl of fruit. However, they weren't alone….

* * *

_A/N: I know, I know, damn me and my cliffies. Guess I want to keep people guessing._

_I do hope I can get the next chapter out sooner than the old ones, but you gotta be patient with us, we have school and work and life to deal with too. Anywho, thanks for reading, plz review and hopefully the next chapter will be out real soon._

_Aries and Kie_


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

_A/N: Here's the next chapter, hope you like it._

_Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter and affiliates, don't sue._

* * *

"Hey Harry!" grinned Sarah, "Hope I'm not late."

"Not at all Sarah, you're right on time," answered Harry. Noticing Draco, he continued, "you brought company I see."

"He needed to find the kitchen, he missed dinner too."

"Don't worry Scarhead, I won't be in your way. I just need to get some food for myself and someone else" Draco replied hotly, "now if you would just show me how to get in, I'll be on my way."

"Someone else?" smirked Harry, "Don't tell me some girl actually gave you the time of day."

"If you must know, I was bringing food to Steph, I believe she missed supper as well. Dumbledore wanted me to tell her something," Draco said passively.

"Yeah, okay," snorted Sarah, "you know Steph isn't stupid, she'll see right through you."

"I'm sure she would if I was trying something, But the truth remains that I need to relay a message and I'm very hungry."

"Whatever Draco," sighed Harry, "Just tickle the pear."

"I beg your pardon! I'll do no such thing."

"Then you won't get any food, cuz I'm not opening any doors for your ugly ass" Harry pointed out, "and neither will Sarah."

"Nope, move your own rich ass for once, unless you're willing to pay me that is," she grinned.

"I don't pay Gryffindors, it's a waste of good money," he added snobbily. When no one moved, a particularly loud rumble from his stomach pushed Draco to make a move. "Oh move over!" he slowly reached out to tickle the pear, which giggled and changed into a doorknob. "Odd door…" he turned the knob and walked into the kitchen.

A rush of house elves bombarded the teens, each wishing to serve in any way possible. Draco noticed a very familiar house elf wearing an ugly tea cozy on his head.

"Dobby!" he cried, who was fool enough to employ you!"

"Master Draco! What are you doing with Harry Potter sir?" exclaimed Dobby.

"Dobby, we talked about this" coached Harry, "Draco is not your master anymore."

"Right sir, please forgive Dobby."

"No harm done. You think you can get food for four people?"

"Right away sir!" Dobby and several other house elves ran off to collect the food.

"You'd better leave Dobby alone Malfoy, he's not your slave anymore." warned Harry.

"Please Potter, I have no need for him anymore. He was unfaithful anyway. I'm so over you stealing our house elf" he answered smoothly. He grabbed a basket of food the house elves had brought back and turned to leave. "Thanks for the help by the way" he called over his shoulder. He walked through the mazes of hallways to get to the hospital wing.

* * *

"Well I'm glad he's gone," said Harry finally. "He's such a prick. Why'd you help him anyway?"

"Because I'm a polite person who helps those who need it?" she said softly.

"Right, and I'm the boogeyman," Harry replied sarcastically.

"Really? You're the boogeyman!" she exclaimed, "that's so cool!"

"Sarah, I know you hate people, so you did not help Malfoy out of the kindness of your heart." At Sarah's protesting face Harry quickly added, "not saying you don't have a kind a heart of course."

"Good," she smiled, "cuz then I'd have to kick your ass!"

"As if you could."

"Was that a challenge Potter?" she mocked, pulling out her wand and pointing it at him.

"Would I challenge you Sarah?" he asked smiling.

"Maybe if you thought you could win," she laughed.

"Probably, now why did you really help Malfoy?" he asked again.

"Because he asked somewhat nicely. And he's Steph's friend. And any friend of Steph's is a friend of mine, no matter how annoying he or she may be."

"Fair enough," said Harry, "I would never be able to help Malfoy."

"That's you, I'm me, let's eat, I'm hungry." she grinned.

"Yeah, yeah, okay, we'll go eat. Wanna make it into a, er… a picnic, or something…?"

"You mean, like a date?" she teased.

"Yeah, er…. Well, sorta, I… if you want er…you know, just a little supper, er…. Unless you don't wanna, cuz… er, we could just go back to the common room and eat it there, no big deal. I was just, you know, wondering, if perhaps, maybe, you might like to, you know…" Harry rambled.

"Harry Potter, are you asking me out?" Sarah asked slowly.

"Yeah, I guess maybe I am…" he said, starting to grin. "Nothing too official yet," he added hastily, "but I'd like to try it out and see what happens. I was thinking, maybe we could go to that dance together," he asked, seemingly with more courage than his first question.

Sarah looked at her feet to hide the blush that had crept onto her face while Harry spoke. "I'd like that. It would be my pleasure to attend the dance with you."

"That's great!" exclaimed Harry, "Fred and George were right, if you just ask right away, there's less of a chance of the girl being taken."

"Okay…" replied Sarah.

"Yeah, last time I waited so long before asking the girl I liked, when I finally got around to it, I was too late." he explained, "so I asked someone the day of the dance, or something like that. I didn't even want to go with her, but I didn't exactly want to go alone. I danced with her once, then I ditched her."

"Um, Harry?" interrupted Sarah, "you're kinda ruining the pretty little moment we were sharing."

"Huh? Oh sorry," he apologized, "I didn't mean to do that. You're the first person I wanted to ask, so I'm happy to go with you."

Sarah smiled, "you're weird… but kinda cute, so I'll let you off the hook this time" she teased.

"Cool" he laughed, "come on, let's go find a spot to have our picnic before all this food gets cold."

"Good idea. But let's stay inside, I don't feel like going outside."

"I got just the place." Harry took the basket and started to lead Sarah to the room of requirements.

When they turned the corner they noticed a Gryffindor with bushy hair running up ahead and vanishing around the closest corner. Sharing a glance, Harry and Sarah walked up to what they knew was a dead end hallway. Peeking around the corner, they saw Hermione pressed against the wall gasping for breath.

"Oh gasp hey Harry. What are you doing here? Pant" fibbed Hermione.

"Come on Hermione, this has gone far enough" Harry said exasperatedly.

"wh…whatever do you mean Harry?" asked Hermione, casting Sarah a quick glare which Sarah eagerly returned.

"Your damn jealousy of my friendship with Sarah," he said angrily. "She's in Gryffindor too, so you don't have any other reason to hate her!"

"But Harry! Don't you see? She's trying to rip our trio apart!" cried Hermione, tears leaking slowly from her eyes.

"Wrong Hermione. She was trying to fit in." Harry answered coldly, "she was just looking for friends" Sarah looked up at him, afraid he may go a little too far in his heated state.

"Harry, it's no big deal…" Sarah said slowly.

"You're right, it wasn't that big of a deal. But it is now." He continued, undeterred. "Hermione, I'm not asking you to like Sarah completely, but I'm asking you to chill out and give her a chance. She won't ruin our trio, but she can even it out by making it a quartet. Do you remember first year? When Ron and I gave YOU a chance? It's your turn now."

The three teens stood in silence until Hermione finally spoke up. "You're right Harry, I'm sorry, and I'm sorry to you too Sarah. I guess book smarts doesn't automatically make me people smart. Can we call a truce?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess. But if you do something I don't like, I WILL point it out." Sarah replied slowly. "Now, don't mean to be rude, but Harry and I had plans that I was kinda looking forward to."

"Oh, right, sorry about the whole eavesdropping thing. Won't happen again." Hermione apologized.

"You should go hang out with Ron, I think he likes you" winked Sarah.

"Yeah, right," Hermione blushed, "anyway, I'll get out of your way. Seeya later."

Harry stood in a daze as Hermione walked past them and down the hall.

"That was just way too easy," he complained. "You two are up to something, aren't you?" he accused, looking at Sarah.

"Give a girl some credit Harry" Sarah laughed, "we're not all stubborn like you and Ron." She took off down the hall calling back over her shoulder "now hurry your ass up, I'm starved!"

Jogging over towards her, picnic basket in hand, Harry showed her how to make the room of requirements appear.

"All you have to do is think of what you need, then the door will appear and the room will have everything you need" explained Harry.

"Oh cool, do we have to think the same thing together? Or do we each think our own thing?" she asked.

"Tell you what, since it's your first time here, I'll let you do all the thinking." Harry smiled, "just picture your perfect picnic place in your head and concentrate."

"Ok," she replied as she closed her eyes. When she opened them again there was a door where the wall used to be, "that's so cool!"

She turned the knob and walked into an outdoor field. The air was warm and smelled of sweet lilacs and roses. The sun shone brightly on a little stream that ran over the rocks and pooled into a crystal clear pond at the base of a large oak tree. Sarah ran into the room and set up the blanket she had conjured under the shade of the oak. Harry followed her slowly, looking around at Sarah's perfect world.

"Nice Sarah. You like living in the dream world?" he asked.

"Dreams are sometimes better than reality ya know." She pointed out, "now will you please, please bring the basket over here so that I can eat?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry." He put the basket on the blanket and sat next to Sarah, "here you go, you get first pick."

"Good," Sarah ripped open the top and stole a sandwich. Peeling back the plastic wrap that covered it she took a big bite. Finishing her mouthful, she looked up at Harry and grinned, "I guess I could share," she teased as she slid the basket back over towards him, watching as he grabbed a sandwich for himself. Sarah then turned her attention to the landscape her imagination had created. Sighing in contentment, she lay down on her back and looked up at the blue azure sky while finishing her sandwich.

"Ya know, about the whole Hermione thing, she's not so bad, I just can't stand her know-it-all sense, as if she can never be wrong and that books can always be relied on. But they can't…" she trailed off, noticing she was rambling.

Looking at her curiously, Harry asked "What do you mean?"

Sitting up, Sarah sat Indian style she blew her bags out of her face, "I mean they're good and all, but you can't rely on them all your life, some things you have to learn from experience and not do biased things because of some text you read. It's just that books help you for studying, but in the real world, they won't do you much good. Take Quidditch for instance," she paused to catch her breath. "You can only read so many things about it, but you won't get a real feel for it unless you play it for yourself. You need that type of hands on experience to get by and it's something books can't give you. It's like a false sense of reality that you think prepares you for life, but actually does the opposite," pausing on her spiel, Sarah took a deep breath. Looking at Harry's lost expression she raised her hands defensively.

"Sorry, kind of rambled into smart mode…" she apologized, head downcast. Appearing aghast at her apology, Harry shook his head.

"No, no, that's not it, just thinking. I guess I kinda look clueless when I do so." He half-heartedly laughed. Head slowly raising to look him in the eye, Sarah blushed.

"Still sorry for rambling. Tend to do that a lot." Chuckling, Harry was at a loss as to what to say. For in all honesty, she did have a point, and it'd be one for Hermione to learn; books weren't everything after all.

Sticking her tongue out at him as he laughed at her, Sarah dug into the basket to see what else was in there. Noticing there were two pieces of cake, an impish grin crossed her face as she thought of Harry with a face full of icing. Taking out a piece, she made it look as if she was going to eat it.

Making eye contact with Harry, she faked innocence as she took a handful of cake and spread it onto his face. Rubbing it until icing covered every inch of his face, she licked her fingers clean before saying "and that was my fun mode, hope you like vanilla icing." She laughed at the look he shot her as he tried to get the icing off his glasses. Sarah wiped off the tip of his nose and stuck her finger in her mouth to lick off the icing.

"Mmm, not really into vanilla since I prefer chocolate, but it seems to taste better coming off someone's face." teased Sarah as she winked at him. Glare turning into a blush, all Harry could do was childishly stick his tongue out at Sarah. He discreetly took out the other piece of cake. Seeing something move out of the corner of her eye, Sarah frowned at the cake in Harry's right hand.

"Nuh uh, no way Potter!" she muttered as she hopped onto her feet. Smiling maniacally at her, Harry stood up as well, cake in hand.

"Oh, but you said you like chocolate so you should really like this one," he said, waving it near her face. Eyes widening, Sarah made a run for it. Heading towards the room of requirement's door, she was about to reach for the knob when the door flung open. Stopping mid-step so as not to smack into the open door, Sarah's face paled as Harry came up behind her and got the cake in her hair.

"Eww…" she groaned as her hands automatically went to her head. When someone cleared their throat, she was brought back to the person who had opened the door. She looked up at Hermione and waved off the impending question, "food fight," she stated before asking why she ran in.

Catching her breath, Hermione looked at Harry before talking, "Ron's gotten into another fight with the Slytherins and I need help." Looking at her curiously, Sarah pulled out her wand and cast scourgify on herself and Harry.

"Go help her with Ron, I'm going to go visit Steph before lights out. Meet you in the common room later" said Sarah as she put away her wand, she whispered a thank you to Harry for the picnic, she nodded goodbye to Hermione and headed towards the hospital wing.

"Where is he?" grumbled Harry, trying to mask his irritation. Taking his hand, Hermione led him down near the dungeons where Ron was having an insult match at wand point with three second year Slytherins.

* * *

Slipping into the hospital wing, Sarah headed towards where Steph's bed was. Noticing a shadow illuminated against the white curtain dividing Steph's bed from the others in the wing Sarah wondered if perhaps it was Draco.

'_He may be an ass and all, but if Steph can get along with him, don't see why I can't myself. So no bitchyness from me unless he starts it'_ she thought to herself. Drawing the curtains back, she greeted the two inside and asked Steph if she was okay.

"Yeah, Draco fed me, so I think I'll live until tomorrow" she laughed. Smiling, Sarah stayed to talk with them for a bit before saying goodnight. Promising to meet up with her in the morning before first period, she walked out of the room.

She said the password and walked into her common room, she figured she might as well start on some of her homework, since it appeared that Harry wasn't back yet. Pulling her books out and dragging them back into the common room. She dropped into one of the big armchairs in front of the fireplace and started on her Herbology assignment. She thought to herself that it was all boring nonsense, she soon found herself doing her last bit of homework, which consisted of her potions homework. '_stupid Snape and his demanding ways_' she cursed under her breath, biting back a yawn as she dipped her quill into her ink bottle.

By the time Harry had cooled Ron down and had returned to Gryffindor tower with Hermione, Sarah had completed her assignments and had dozed off in front of the slowly dying fire, whose burning embers flickered shadows over the dark walls. The lights had long since dimmed in the common room as all the other students had gone to bed.

Finding Sarah asleep in the armchair surrounded by her homework and textbooks, Harry couldn't help but watch her for a bit. Not able to pinpoint the thoughts running through his head, he bade Hermione and Ron goodnight before walking over to Sarah. Placing his hand on her left shoulder he gently shook her. Waking with a start, Sarah bolted upright in the chair and looked around frantically pointing her wand out ahead of her, until she noticed Harry grinning knowingly. Wiping the sleep out of her eyes as she yawned, she sleepily pushed Harry's hand away.

"What time is it?" she asked as she stretched like a cat.

"Well past midnight" he replied, holding back a grin at how cute she appeared at the moment.

"Blah!" she muttered under her breath as she flopped back down into the overstuffed armchair. Giving her a funny look as he caught onto what she muttered, Harry looked down at her schoolwork.

"Seems you've gotten quite a bit done."

Looking up at him, Sarah stifled another yawn as she nodded her head. "Did two weeks worth of assignments that I usually hold off until the last possible second."

Eyes widening in shock at first, Harry soon bit down on a laugh. "Sorry to keep you waiting for so long, Ron's rather stubborn," he apologized. Waving it off, Sarah bent over to retrieve her books. Pushing off of the armchair, she pulled out her wand and cast a levitating spell on them.

"I feel too damn lazy to carry everything back upstairs" she said to his raised eyebrow. Smiling, Harry shook his head once more. "Well, ummm… thanks for dinner and all, though cake in the hair isn't as funny as cake in the face," she frowned. Chuckling as he recalled their food fight, Harry walked with Sarah towards the dormitories, books floating behind them.

Coming to the division that split the girls side form the boys, Sarah surprised Harry by drawing him into a hug and pulling away to kiss him on the cheek. "Night Harry," she whispered as she started her ascent up to her room. The smile on her face as she got ready for bed was the same grin that was still present when her head touched the pillow and she fell into a deep, pleasant sleep.

* * *

_A/N: voila! A none cliffhanger chapter. I hope you liked, you know the drill, plz read and review. We love to read the reviews._

_Ja ne_

_Aries and Kie_


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

_A/N: There will be more to the plot, but you know stories, there has to be multiple sub plots, makes it more fun that way. So read on folks! Enjoy!!_

_Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue._

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The following morning Sarah had gone to meet Steph in the hospital wing before heading to the great hall for breakfast.

"No Draco this morning?" asked Sarah with an astonished expression. Jumping to the conclusion that he would have been with them to go to the great hall, she mentally slapped herself. '_Can't expect him to stick around the whole night_' she thought to herself.

"No, he must have left after I fell asleep last night" said Steph, breaking Sarah out of her thoughts. Nodding her head, she asked a few questions about her having stayed in the hospital wing all night, and then they went on to useless topics that were rather mundane.

She waved goodbye to Steph as they split to sit at their respective tables, Sarah plunked herself next to Harry. Greeting him with a quick hello and a smile, she nabbed a piece of toast and managed to scarf it down in less than five bites.

"Hungry by any chance?" teased Harry as he picked at his own breakfast. Finishing her mouthful, Sarah stuck her tongue out at Harry.

"Always actually" she quickly replied before grabbing another buttered slice. Meanwhile at the Slytherin table, Steph had taken a seat adjacent to Draco, avoiding the questioning look he sent her way. She took a sip of pumpkin juice before deciding on what to eat for breakfast. Mimicking Sarah, she munched on a piece of toast, although she would rather take her time to eat the still warm slice.

Steph looked up at the teacher's table and saw Dumbledore staring down at her. She sent him a questioning look. Knowing what she was asking, Dumbledore shook his head slowly; they hadn't found the girl yet. She looked over at Draco and saw that he too was staring at her.

"Any news?" she asked him, startling him out of his trance.

"Huh? What? I wasn't staring," he said quickly.

"Yes you were, but that's not the point," she sighed, "I asked if there was any news?"

"Oh. No, not yet. I won't ask my father, that would only raise suspicion, and I haven't heard from the 'girl' yet."

"Girl!?!" shrieked Pansy, making the two teens flinch at the sound, "what girl?!? are you cheating on me again Draco? You know your father wouldn't approve of you hurting me!" she cried hysterically.

"Sod off Parkinson," Steph sighed exasperatedly. "You weren't invited to join in our private conversation."

"Was I talking to you? YOU WHORE!! You've done nothing but try to take my Drakie away from me since you got here. Come near him again and I'll rip your eyes out!"

Steph stood up suddenly, shocking the Slytherins, who had been listening eagerly to the fight, and making Pansy take a startled step back in fear. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!" she shouted. "All I've done was try to find friends at this school, and all anyone has done is assume I'm up to no good." She leaned her hands on the table and stared Pansy down. "I'm going to give you a little lesson, so keep your mouth shut and listen up, I'll keep it dumb enough for you to understand."

Pansy opened her mouth to protest but Steph was ready for her, "Silencio!" she cast her spell, quickly robbing Pansy of her voice. "I told you to shut your mouth. Time you learned to take me seriously. Now listen up… Draco – Does – NOT – Like – You! You – Have – NO – Say – In what – HE – Does! If he chooses, emphasis on the HE, to fuck your ugly ass it's only because you're so damn easy and pathetic that you're a quick lay. Sorry to be the one to tell you this, but… you're a pathetic loser and you need to get a life. Have a nice day." Steph picked up her books and walked out of the great hall and down to her Monday morning potions class, leaving Pansy shocked and speechless, literally, she was still under the spell.

Draco recovered from his shock, and ran off after Steph shooting Pansy one of his famous death glares.

"Steph!" he called after her, "hey Steph, wait up!" he jogged to catch up to her.

"Sod off Malfoy, go snog your whore and leave me alone," she hissed, speeding up a little.

"Well it's nice to know your British lingo is catching up and that you haven't lost your sense of humor," he quipped.

She stopped suddenly and looked at Draco, "Why are you still here? Are all of you Slytherins walking around with the sole purpose of annoying the fuck out of me?"

"I don't want to annoy you. You've got a temper and a skill with magic I wouldn't want to mess with. It kind of scares me, but it also fascinates me" he explained making sure to keep a bit of distance between them; she still seemed a little volatile.

What's your point Malfoy?" she was beginning to become annoyed, she wanted to get to potions on time and Draco was slowing her down.

"Well, I hear there's a dance coming up, and I'd be honoured if a girl like you would accompany me" he finally asked.

_Draco, No!!!_an eerie voice filled the halls, _Don't do it, you belong with me, we were meant for each other!!_

The portraits on the walls began to shake angrily and a force began to push Steph around.

"Oh this is ridiculous!" cried Steph, "Remove spirit" A huge gust of wind raged through the hall and blew open the front doors. At the edge of the woods a young girl stood in a daze, her red eyes flashing and her onyx hair flying wildly all around her. She recoiled when her spirit hit her and looked up in shock. Her eyes made contact with Steph's icy blue ones and she hissed, turning around and vanishing into the forbidden forest.

"Draco, figure out who the fuck that is and what she wants before she kills someone," she told him.

"I'll do my best. So how about that dance?" he asked, suddenly nervous.

Steph turned to face him, "I'll think about it, give you an answer in a week, okay?"

"A week?!' he asked in disappointment.

"Well, if you want an answer right this second, it's going to be no. I'm giving you a chance, take it or leave it. But I gotta think, will that girl try to kill me again if I dance with you? She almost killed me when I said your name," she explained.

"True, I gotta stop her," he muttered to himself.

"Anywho, I'm off to potions, see you in class," she said cheerfully heading down to the dungeons.

"Yeah, see you…" he thought. Instead of following her to class, he rushed outside and ran to the edge of the forest.

"I know you're in there!" he called. The young girl stepped out from behind a large tree, "Is that the real you or another astral projection of yourself?" he asked her.

"It's me Draco, I'm here," she smiled, "you've come for me, I knew you'd come for me Draco."

"Who are you and what the hell do you want?" he asked angrily.

Her smile vanished as he pointed his wand at her. "Draco, what are you doing? Didn't your father tell you?"

"My father knows nothing about you. Now what do you want?" he asked again.

Her deep red eyes glittered with tears, "but… all those years, I don't understand."

"I don't know you, no one knows you. You'd better leave my friends alone or I'll come find you again and you will regret ever crossing paths with Draco Malfoy!"

She looked down in shame but when she looked up her tears were gone and she scowled at Draco. A magical wind rose up suddenly, her hair whipped around her head. Draco aimed his wand. The girl's eyes flashed and she made a motion as if to push him away, even though she was too far away. Draco was hit in the chest with an invisible force. He flew across the grounds and slammed into the front doors. He landed in a heap on the steps and struggled to pull himself up.

He looked up to see the girl floating across the grounds. The air around her was so charged with magical energy that lightning bolts shot out in every direction. Her eyes were no longer red, but pure white, without pupils. Draco scrambled to his feet and conjured up an invisible energy field around him as a shield just as she came to a stop in front of him. She smiled as she pulled her hand back and punched through his shield as if it were nothing. The shield shattered around Draco and he took a step back only to find himself cornered.

"You can't stop me Draco… I'm pure magic," she blew on him like one would a birthday candle on a cake and he crashed through the doors and landed in the Great Hall. Gasping for air as he gripped his ribs, he slid backwards trying to get away from her. She walked into the entrance hall, her energy whipping around her like flames from a fire. Every step she took created a crater in the tiles. Draco's wand had flown out of his hand and had landed on the staircase four stairs up. When his back hit the bottom stair he turned slowly and reached his arm towards his wand, gritting his teeth in pain the movement caused. His wand moved, rose off the stair. He heard someone call "accio" but it was no use, the girl was calling his wand to her. "ACCIO!" the voice called again, but to no avail.

Suddenly a big green blur leaped into the air and snatched his wand before it could more any further. The person landed in a roll and came up holding two wands, both pointed steadily at the girl. "RICTUSEMPRA!" she cried, hitting the girl with two spells at once. The girl landed on the ground, the energy stopped floating and the debris that had been whipping around the room fell on the floor. Draco's vision blurred as he tried to maintain consciousness, his assailant turned to face his savior, eyes no longer white, but angry red. A snakelike hiss was emitted from her mouth as her teeth morphed into sharp and deadly fangs.

"RICTUSEMPRA!!!" the mysterious savior cried again, knocking the girl back out the door. "RICTUSEMPRA!!!!" she called once more, knocking the girl off the steps. When the girl sat up the savior cried "Protection complete." The mysterious girl ran towards the door but was shot back like a bullet, straight into the woods.

"Oh Draco," his rescuer sighed, "I said to find out who she was, not get yourself killed."

He looked into her face, allowing his eyes to slowly come into focus; it was Steph.

"Steph," he coughed, a trail of blood leaking down to his chin.

"Shit, she nailed you good," she stood up, "don't move you'll only make it worse," she turned around and walked up to a painting of a king on a horse. "Go get Dumbledore, tell him to hurry."

"I beg your pardon! Do you know to whom you are speaking?" the painting asked.

"I'm talking to a pile of ashes if you don't do as I asked, "she threatened. Her wand spit out orange sparks to emphasize her point.

"Right away," the king replied in fear, galloping off. The sound of the horse echoed through the walls as he moved towards Dumbledore's office.

"Aren't y…you supposed to b…be in p…potions?" Draco muttered, coughing up more blood.

Steph knelt next to him and wiped the blood off his chin with a cloth torn from her robes, "shh, don't talk," she whispered, "Snape sent me to the kitchens for some basil, his supply was expired," she stood up and dusted off her skirt. "Don't move, you'll make your injuries worse."

"It's nothing, just a scratch, I don't need your help" he growled defensively. He forced himself to stand up.

"Yeah, just a scratch on you and the whole hall is in ruins. Bullshit Malfoy, stop being so stubborn."

"She surprised me, that's all, I could have taken her, no problem. Not my fault she attacked from behind," he coughed harshly, wiping the blood on his sleeve. "How'd you know what to do anyway?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"That's the spell Sarah used to knock her away the first time. I guess with two wands it was stronger…" Draco fell over at her last words and promptly passed out.

Shaking her head at his stubborn attitude, Steph quietly cast a levitating spell and headed towards the hospital wing. Silently praying that no other mishaps occurred, she hurried along.

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Covering her ears and screwing her eyes shut as a fellow student's potion went awry; Sarah wondered how much longer Steph was going to be to finish her errand for professor Snape. Having a funny feeling in her gut that something wasn't right, she set the thought aside as she opened her eyes. Choking on a laugh at the sight before her, Sarah removed her hands from her ears. The group who's potion didn't quite turn out managed to make their surroundings fluffy and green with some strange material of sorts that looked soft to the touch. It covered the desks circling that station, and anything else that had come into contact with the wrongly mixed concoction.

"So much for having a clean classroom" she heard Harry mutter. Playfully punching him in the arm, Sarah finished bottling a sample of their own potion to hand in, she assembled her books, getting ready to leave early.

Days went by with nothing out of the ordinary occurring. Draco had been fully healed and only Steph, Draco, Madame Pomphrey and Dumbledore knew about the incident. Having been told to keep it to themselves; Stephanie still hadn't even told Sarah yet.

The dance had been announced over the weekend and the students were starting to prepare for it. Sarah, of course, had been exuberant about it since it would be her first dance during her stay at Hogwarts. And though Steph denied it to anyone who brought up the subject, she actually was looking forward to it. A little fun never hurt anyone, right?

Days went by so quickly that before anyone knew it, Friday night had arrived. Sarah had dragged Steph into Hogsmead for shopping to find them both something to wear while the guys worried more about who exactly they were going to go with.

Patrick had the intention of asking Melanie, the girl in Hufflepuff he enjoyed talking to. Sebastian was wondering which girl to ask, he seemed to have a line up of three Ravenclaws who were all too eager to be his date.

Sarah couldn't help but tease him for his troubles while egging Patrick on and telling him to ask Melanie before some other guy did. Grinning madly to herself as she laid her dress on her bed covers she couldn't stop thinking about when Harry had asked if she would be his date tonight. Mind you, she had to decipher his stutters to actually figure out that's what he wanted, but he had looked so adorable while blushing furiously and stammering that she didn't have the heart to help him spit it out. Instead she let him try to explain himself for about five minutes before getting over it. By saying she would gladly go with him, she had made haste leaving the great hall after kissing him on the cheek.

Shaking her head and still grinning like a fool, Sarah realized she was still clad in only a towel and went to change. Her dress was an ebony halter that showed quite a bit of cleavage. The bottom slid off diagonally with a slight curl to the fabric the design was simple, yet elegant and classy at the same time. Slipping on her matching strapy heels, she went back into the bathroom to fix her hair and makeup before descending from the girl's dormitory to meet up with Harry. Hermione and Ron had already gone off ahead of them. Over the last few weeks, the two girls had talked more civilly to one another, but were far from being friends.

As she added color to her eyes, she couldn't help but smile. She was going to the dance with Harry, sweet, shy, brave little Harry Potter. So far she was the only one with a date; Steph was still keeping Malfoy guessing about her answer, Sebastian had narrowed down his list but had yet to pick a date and poor little Patrick was currently standing in Hufflepuff common room waiting for Melanie to come out so he could ask her.

Taking one last look in the floor length mirror she grinned, Harry was going to freak. She walked down the form stairs to see Harry nervously pacing in front of the fireplace. She cleared her throat to catch his attention; he looked up and did a double-take.

"Sarah? Is that really you?" he asked with wide eyes.

"Of course it's me silly," she smiled, "you look dashing Harry."

"Well you're nothing short of gorgeous yourself," he smiled, relaxing a little, "shall we?" he asked, holding out an arm for her.

She walked down the remaining stairs and graciously took his arm, "we shall," she declared with a grin. They both headed down to the great hall, Sarah narrowly avoiding jumping for joy at the mere thought of a school dance.

Meanwhile, Patrick had finally asked Melanie to the dance. He was surprised no one else had asked her. She walked down the stairs in a white flowy summer dress. The skirt went to midcalf and her bodice was a light baby blue and laced in the back like a peasant girl. Her make-up was light and natural and she looked sweet and innocent.

"Wow Mel, you look great." Exclaimed Patrick.

Thanks Patrick, you look good too," she blushed.

"I can't believe my luck, I thought for sure someone else would have asked you before I could," he smiled.

"Well I was kind of waiting for a certain someone to ask me," she said slowly, lowering her head to hide the slight blush creeping onto her cheeks.

"Guess we never got around to it, huh," said Patrick slowly, "oh well, better for me I guess," he offered his arm.

"Patrick you good," she laughed, "I was waiting for you," she took his arm, "you really need to work on your self-confidence."

"Or maybe I knew that all along and I was just acting suave," he grinned.

"Uh huh, sure Pat, Let's go now, I wanna dance!"

"Okay, okay, off we go," the two teens made a cute couple as they walked confidently down to the great hall.

Meanwhile, Sebastian was fixing his hair, he was confident he had made the right choice in asking Adrienne to the dance. Her exotic good looks had pushed him to choose her. She was waiting in the common room when he came down, her dark eyes were smoky and outlined and her hair was dark and waved perfectly down her back. Her dark red dress made her eyes stand out against her olive skin.

"You look fabulous Adrienne," he grinned.

"I know, can we go now?" she asked, sounding bored.

"Uh yeah, sure," he offered his arm but she walked right by it and out the door. "Hoo boy, this is going to be a long night," he said to himself and followed her out.

Back in the Slytherin common room, Draco was pacing in front of the staircase to the girl's dormitory. He was already dressed and ready for the dance, but he was still waiting for Steph's answer. The door opened and a large frilly dress poked out. His eyes widened as Pansy walked out in the ugliest dress he had ever seen.

"Oh Drackie!!!" she cried shrilly, "you waited for me, you are the sweetest guy in the world!"

"Sod off Pansy, I'm not waiting for you, run along before you blind me with your ugly face. He used his wand to slide her across the floor and out the door, He heard the dormitory door open again and this time Steph walked out.

She was wearing an emerald green summer dress with spaghetti straps that crossed in the back and a long skirt that reached mid calf. It was slim fitting and the skirt looked like it would flow when she spun. She wore strappy black sandals and ruby red, simple jewelry to accent the green of the dress. Draco gaped until Steph pushed his mouth closed.

"What do you want Malfoy?" she asked.

"I want to accompany you to the dance," he said slowly, forgetting to blink, "you look—"

"Save it for someone who cares, let's go" she grabbed his arm and dragged her all too willing partner out the door.

It was time to dance.

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_A/N: I know, I know, shame on us for taking so long, we probably lost a lot of readers, but we've been busy, University is tough ya know. We'll keep trying, promise, it just might take a while._

_Read and review_

_Ja ne_

_Aries and Kie_


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